No relatives visit graves of sea collision victims

CEBU, Philippines - Two months after the fateful sea collision that claimed more than a hundred lives, no relatives visited the mass grave for unidentified and missing victims at the Carreta Cemetery yesterday.

Mayor Michael Rama offered candles and prayers to the 47 unidentified casualties.

The grave bore case numbers for future identification of the victims following DNA test and other identifying process.

"Maybe the relatives wanted to have a specific grave to visit and light candles on. You know, with the ongoing DNA testing and the like. Perhaps they want to be specific and make sure that the niche they visit is the one with their loved ones," Rama told reporters

The mayor promised to include the mass burial site in his annual grave visit aside from another mass grave inside Carreta Cemetery for those who died in the sinking of MV Princess of the Stars.

Jubert Dabalos, 2GO Shipping employee assigned to watch over the mass grave, said they did not notice any relatives of the victims.

"We started our deployment here yesterday and we have not noticed any family member or relative," Dabalos told reporters.

He added that two employees were assigned to go on a 12-hour shift to guide visiting relatives of casualties of the ill-fated MV Saint Thomas Aquinas that sank in Lauis Ledge after it collided with another vessel on August 16.

2GO travel passage manager Luz Torrevillas, in a text message, said the company is holding a nine-day novena mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral since yesterday.

The company also arranged for a special mass at 3 p.m. at Carreta Cemetery chapel.

"In addition to yesterday's Cosmopolitan mass, 2GO will have mass at Carreta Cemetery offered for the souls of the St. Thomas Aquinas passengers and crew who perished in the incident," Torrevillas said.

Flowers and candles were offered at the site as 2GO guards and personnel continue manning the site until today. — (FREEMAN)