Silence blankets Guinsaugon

SAINT BERNARD, Southern Leyte — Deafening silence, occasionally broken by wails of grief-stricken survivors, now prevails over the vast 40 hectares of Barangay Guinsaugon in this town, which is still covered with a thick layer of mud after the tragic Feb. 17 landslide that buried more than a thousand people alive.

The foot of Mt. Kan-abag, where the base camp of all search and rescue operations during the last eight grueling days had been located, is now nearly bare, with only a handful of Philippine Army soldiers securing the area after the futile efforts to recover possible survivors were finally stopped.

This base camp in Barangay Tambis used to buzz with voices of rescuers from different countries who came together for a common purpose. This operations center used to burst with color, as various flags of different nations stood proudly.

Late Friday afternoon, Gov. Rosette Lerias formally announced that search and rescue efforts would finally be stopped after operations were suspended for several days due to continuous rains and due to fears that unearthing the bodies would spread disease among the rescuers.

From nearby Barangay Magatas, where journalists pass by to get to the dig site by walking through the muck, the silence is punctuated by the cries of survivors like Marisa Lobios, whose daughter Marivic was among the 246 pupils believed to have been killed after the muddy avalanche buried Guinsaugon’s elementary school.

However, there are those who still believe that there is life after the tragedy, such as Rhowen Marqueda, whose mother Loreta was the second person to be rescued from the landslide.

The senior high school student said losing his siblings Lemuel and Rachel was really tough, but he said life must go on. He believes that God is the only source of life and the only one who has the power to take it away.

Marisol Pelaez, Lemuel’s girlfriend, says she has no other choice but to move on.

"Oo, masakit kasi may mga nabuo na kayong plano para sa inyong dalawa, tapos mawawala siya nang ganoon kadali. Pero lagi naman siyang nandito sa puso ko. Lagi kong ipinagdadasal na sana kupkupin siya ng Diyos, saan man siya naroon (Yes, it’s painful because we had plans, then he was gone just like that. But he will always remain in my heart. I always pray that God would keep him, wherever he is)," Pelaez told The STAR.

Barangay Poblacion, where most members of the media covering the tragedy stayed, fell silent as journalists from all over the world started leaving the place one by one.

"Malaki na mababawas sa kinikita namin, hindi kagaya nu’ng marami pang tao dito. Back to normal na ulit kami (We won’t earn as much, not like when there were many people here. We’re back to normal)," a store owner said.

Each night, the streets of the town proper would be filled with elderly voices chanting the rosary for the eternal repose of those who were buried alive by the landslide. Residents would then hold a procession, going around what remained of the village.

What is important now, according to Lerias, is to ensure that the survivors would be able to begin a new chapter in their lives.