life’s irony

Lolo Ricardo is 78 years old.  He was found guilty of murder and was imprisoned for 11 years.  Last June 12, as an Independence Day gift, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo granted conditional pardon to Bilibid prisoners aged 70 and above.  26 lolos were released.  Lolo Ricardo was one of them.  He cried in joy and thanked the Lord for this wonderful gift of freedom.  “Lord, bigyan mo ako ng kalakasan, Lord.  Hindi na ako uulit,” he said.  Finally, he would be reunited with his familly.  For the first time in 11 years, he would be able to hug his family again–his wife, his children, his grandchildren. 

But he never had the chance to even see them again.

Nine days after he was released, Lolo Ricardo boarded the M/V Princess of the Stars.  With him probably were happy thoughts of his reunion with his family.  Perhaps he was imagining that moment when the ship would dock and he would go down and meet his family who would then rush towards him and wrap him in their loving arms.   But instead of that happy ending, Lolo Ricardo had a tragic one.  When Typhoon Frank devastated the seas of Romblon and caused the M/V Princess of the Stars to overturn and sink, Lolo Ricardo was one of the 800 plus passengers who sunk with it. 

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(Top) Lolo Ricardo receiving his certificate for conditional pardon. (Bottom) Lolo Ricardo in tears while thanking the Lord for his freedom.

With him were three jailguards–Einstein Ponciano, Virgilio Rejoj and Ramiro Martin plus Marlon Porones, a prisoner who was supposed to attend a court hearing in Talibon, Bohol.

The Bureau of Corrections is still searching for them but up to now they still have no idea if they’re still alive or already dead.

Yesterday afternoon, the families of the passengers of the sunken M/V Princess of the Stars held a Sayaw-Panalangin in fron the the Sulpicio Lines ticketing office as a mark of their pagbababang-luksa.  It’s been forty days since that tragic day which took the lives of hundreds of people.  But up to now, these families still have no idea where their loved ones are.  Having lost someone I loved two years ago, I know how devastating the grief is.  But how much more is it for these families who don’t even know where the bodies of their loved ones are?  No body to embrace for the last time.  To bid a final goodbye to.  How can you expect them to move on when there’s this thin desperate hope that their loved ones are still alive taunting them? Torturing them?

As with everything else in this country, justice and closure for these families are still a long way off.  But I hope and pray that for the sake of the souls of the hundreds of dead people trapped underneath the M/V Princess of the Stars or floating in the Visayan seas and for their families’ peace of mind, this time will be an exception.