DSWD staffer, NGO worker missing in river mishap

PIKIT, North Cotabato — A staffer of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman and a female representative of a foreign-funded volunteer group have been missing since Saturday after their rubber boat sank while navigating the Rio Grande de Mindanao in Maguindanao.

The two — identified as Soliman’s technical assistant Michael Borromeo and Teresita Marquez of the Save the Children Foundation — were part of a team that included Soliman herself that inspected projects at the Buliok complex, a former enclave of Moro guerrillas and now a "peace zone" in Pagalungan town.

Soliman and officials of Pikit, North Cotabato, led by Mayor Farida Malingco, were on board a separate boat.

Malingco said more rescue workers have been sent to the spot where the boat capsized to help find the bodies of Borromeo and Marquez.

"Some of our volunteer-rescuers who first responded to the scene balked at diving after seeing crocodiles along the banks," Malingco said.

Malingco said their group, which included Col. Ben Dolorfino, commander of the 2nd Marine Brigade, left Pikit for the Buliok complex after breakfast and were on their way home at noon, after inspecting rehabilitation projects in the area, when the accident happened.

"The boat was not actually overloaded. It just slowly overturned and all of those aboard fell into the water," she said.

One of the passengers of the ill-fated rubber boat was Elsie Amil, provincial chief of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. — John Unson