ILIGAN City— Residents, relatives and village officials of Hinaplanon gathered on All Saints’ Day to pray for those who died or remain missing after Tropical Storm Sendong devastated parts of Iligan City in December 2011.
A Holy Mass officiated by Rev. Fr. Rolando “Dodong” Cantina of the Diocese of Iligan was held on November 1 in front of the Hinaplanon barangay hall, where a memorial wall bears the names of more than 500 missing persons.
The names, many of them relatives of residents, were engraved on a marble marker measuring four by eight feet, former barangay chairman and first councilor Vernonico Echavez told Mindanao Gold Star Daily in a phone interview on November 2.
“Kasagaran aning mga ngalan akong relatives,” Echavez said, referring to the names on the memorial wall.
Among those listed was Michael Kundiman, a Bayug Island resident and broadcast journalist of the former DXRJ.
Echavez said the memorial wall in Bayug Island also carries the names of people who died or went missing after being swept out to sea during the December 17, 2011, flash floods.
He estimated that about 1,600 people died, including residents of other barangays and visitors who were in the area for Christmas vacation or group studies.
Some bodies were recovered on Bayug Island, while others were buried at the public cemetery in Barangay Palao, which relatives continue to visit.
The annual gathering gives families and residents a chance to remember those whose lives were lost and those who have never been found.
