TALACOGON, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 16 June) – “Wa gani ko katingog gahapon. Na shock ko.” (I was speechless yesterday. I was shocked), Rovelyn ‘Bebet’ Baterbonia recalls her feelings upon seeing the crowds that turned up along the 246-kilometer journey on Monday and Tuesday to bring her son’s remains home from Davao City.
“Ha? Ingon ani diay ang akong anak? Unsay record sa akong anak nga ingon ani diay kadaghan ang nagsuporta?” (So my son is like this? What is my son’s record that there are so many who expressed their support?), she told reporters at around 2 p.m. outside the municipal gymnasium, venue of her son’s wake until June 23.
“Doble-doble ang akong pasalamat” (I cannot thank you enough), she said.
Nearly midnight on Monday, at the entrance of the provincial gymnasium in the Government Center in Patin-ay Prosperidad, Rovelyn said she could not thank everyone but “murag niduot gyud sa ako nga gikan sa one year old hangtod 90 years old, nagduyog sa amoa. Daghang salamat kay bisan tuod -ana lang ang among kuan, nadungog pud mi entero Luzon, Visayas ug Mindanao… Salamat sa tanan, sa mga tabang. Dili mabayran tanan” (I’m really touched that people from one year old to 90 years old share our grief. Thank you so much because even if we’re just like this, our voice has been heard in the entire Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao… Thanks for everything, the help. It’s all priceless).
The funeral convoy left Davao City at around 8 a.m. on Monday, stopped at a funeral parlor in neighboring Panabo City for about five hours, and left the city at 1:50 p.m. The convoy arrived at the municipal gym here in Barangay San Agustin at 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday, after an 18-hour journey that would have taken less than five hours on ordinary days. The crowds that gathered along the way slowed down the convoy.
Rovelyn said she has always been proud of her son. “Proud na man gyud ko daan sa akong anak sugod sa gamay pa, kay siempre anak nako. Magkaunsa, naay talent o wala, proud gyud ka sa imong anak. Pero wa ko nag-expect, nga ingon ani ka proud gyud” (I have always been proud of my son since he was little, because he is my son. With or without talent, you should be proud of your child. But I did not expect to be this proud).
She told MindaNews that the loss of her son is very painful “pero tungod sa mga tao nga nag-appreciate nako, kaila ba o dili, dato o pobre, murag na-appreciate nako nga kinahanglan ko mubangon kay naa pa koy ubang mga anak” (but because people appreciate me, whether they know me or not, whether they’re rich or poor, I know I need to rise because I still have other children).
Bobet is the second child of Rene and Rovelyn. A relative told MindaNews he was nicknamed Bobet from the combination of the nicknames of his parents – Boboy and Bebet. Aside from Bobet, the couple has six children.
The Ateneo de Davao University is providing full scholarship to Bobet’s six siblings and has facilitated a donation drive upon the request of many who wanted to help, with the consent of the Baterbonia family.
Rovelyn sent off her Manila-bound son at the Davao International Airport on June 4. Little did she know that it would be the last time she could hug her son. A Blue Knights basketball player and graduate of the Ateneo de Davao University Senior High School (ADDU-SHS) Class 2026, Bobet was an incoming freshman college student at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) and was a new recruit into the Blue Eagles basketball team.
He was ready to spread his wings and soar high and had told his ADDU-SHS coach, Jess Evangelio, that he will not go home for five years so he could earn enough to provide his family a better future.
Four days after arriving at the ADMU campus, Bobet lost his life during a Blue Eagles “team building” activity in Dipaculao, Aurora.
It has been a long journey for Bobet’s remains – from Dipaculao in Aurora to Arlington Memorial Homes in Quezon City on June 8, to the ADDU-SHS’ Christ the King Chapel in Davao City from June 12 to 14 where some 23,000 sympathizers paid their respects during the three-day wake, and finally the journey to Talacogon on June 15 to 16, where thousands lined up along the highway from Davao to Agusan.
Bobet will be buried in the municipality’s new cemetery in Barangay Labnig — the first to be buried there – after the 8 a.m. mass at the municipal gym on June 24.
Rovelyn visited the burial site Tuesday afternoon. Vice Mayor Elvin Maligsa and the municipal engineer waited for her at the site.
The Baterbonias are members of the FGs (Family Groups) of the Gagmayng Kristyanon Katilingban (GKK or Basic Ecclesial Communities), according to Consolita Campos, officer-in-charge of the San Estanislao Kostka Parish office.
She told MindaNews that Bobet was one of her students in catechism and would usually personally go to church or through his mother, “para magpamisa” (to sponsor a mass) before and after competitions, whether or not he wins.
She said the Baterbonias are churchgoers in the parish and their house is located just behind the church, also by the Agusan River.
Several persons MindaNews interviewed on Tuesday recalled that when they first heard the news about Bobet’s demise, they could not believe that Bobet drowned because “he was a good swimmer who could swim across the mighty Agusan River.” (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
