Region 8 remembers Doņa Paz tragedy
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
December 20, 2005
TACLOBAN CITY The
people of Region 8 remembers today the sinking of the ill-fated Doņa Paz
eighteen years ago.
Full of passengers coming
from the different parts of
Eastern Visayas who were on their way to
Manila where they were to
spend the holiday season, to buy more wares to sell or just to buy gifts for
their families out of their Christmas bonus, the Dona Paz vessel sank near
the Tablas
Island near Romblon.
Thousands of passengers,
professionals and uneducated, rich and poor, men and women, children and
adults, lost their lives, many of whom remain unaccounted for up to now.
Indeed, it was a tragic
event which left Region 8 spend a really blue Christmas that year. Thousands
of families lost a member of their family, husbands, wives, sons, daughters,
children, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandparents,
cousins.
The tragedy called the
attention of the proper authorities on the plight of the shipping industry
which was considered as floating coffins. It also unified the people of
Region 8 to help and console one another.
The non-government
organizations with the leadership of Atty. Roque Tiu and media practitioner
Cesar Ribo formed the Confederation of Non-government organizations, the
purpose of which was to raise funds for the poor bereaved families of the
passengers.
As the dead passengers
wrapped in cellophane bags arrived, all the government and non-government
authorities concerned helped identify the cadavers and brought them to their
respective places. Even the porters at the Tacloban Port Area were not
bothered by the odor or the thought of not being paid. What was important
was that the families will be able to give their dead the proper burial.
For weeks, the city
residents were warned on the danger of disease brought about by the
thousands of decaying cadavers.
Today, eighteen years after
the tragedy, Doņa Paz remains a symbol of death, a symbol of negligence on
the part of the agency concerned.
More so, Doņa Paz will
always be a tangible proof that nothing is impossible and too heavy a burden
if everyone will do his or her share.
