Town councilor, daughter, niece killed in flood

By Jennifer P. Rendon

Three family members from Panit-an, Capiz added to the death toll of Tropical Storm Paeng in Western Visayas.

Sangguniang Bayan member Ricarte Dorado, his daughter Maricar Dorado and niece Janet Bismanos all died after their vehicle got swept by a strong water current around 1:50 p.m. of Oct 31, 2022 at Barangay Bahit, Panit-an.

Ricarte, Maricar and Besmanos, and five other companions came from the town proper and were on their way home when the incident happened.

They were riding a kuliglig, a two-wheeled trailer pulled by a two-wheeled tractor similar to a rotary tiller, when they got washed in a flooded rice field.

Mark Jay Dumol, chief of the Panit-an Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO), said that at the time of the incident, the flood water was already subsiding but the current was still strong.

“The area was downstream and they might found it hard to navigate the kuliglig,” Dumol said.

Members of the Panit-an MDRRMO, Panit-an Municipal Police Station, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)–Panit-an, and the Philippine Army’s 603rd Community Defense immediately launched a search and rescue operation.

In less than an hour, rescuers found an unconscious Maricar and five others.

Those who survived included the kuliglig driver, Jinny Delatina and his 14-year-old son; Joyrey Depol, 26; Christine Bismanos; and Joan Dorado, all residents of Bahit village.

Rescuers tried to revive Maricar while on their way to Bailan District Hospital in Pontevedra town but she did not survive.

The search and rescue operation was temporarily stopped later that day and continued early morning of November 1.

At 5:55 a.m. on Tuesday, the bodies of Ricarte and Besmanos were found around 150 meters from where the incident happened.