SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 25 Aug)—A public school teacher drowned to death when the raft they were riding was swept away by rampaging floodwaters on a creek in a remote village of Esperanza town in this province around 4 p.m. Thursday.
Daniel Ajoc, head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO) of Esperanza, said the incident that killed the teacher is called by Higaonons as “badlis,” or a flashflood that brought strong cascading waters from the mountain.
He identified the teacher as Jonard Saguidon, 30, a resident of Bayugan City who taught at the Guibonon Elementary School, a last mile village situated near Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental.
Saguidon drowned while crossing Calaboan creek and his body was washed away towards the lower village of Bunaguit where it was retrieved, Ajoc said.
He said “badlis” is a rare phenomenon since the entire town had not experienced heavy rains, only scattered rain showers. In the municipality of San Francisco, heavy rains that lasted for three hours flooded the five villages at the town center.
The Esperanza MDRRMO quoted a witness as saying that Saguidon boarded the raft with his motorcycle. He was reportedly the last to attempt to cross the creek just as when rampaging waters swept him farther away and drowned.
Witness Julie Balig, the MDRRMO said, identified three survivors—Ismael Atad, Julius Rendon, and Jhaysan Hadumas—who were able to cross the creek ahead of Saguidon.
Ajoc said Saguidon’s body was retrieved by MDRRMO staff in Sitio Balobo in the village of Bunaguit located in the lower part of the western upland villages of Esperanza, an area predominantly inhabited by Higaonons.
The raft—locally called “gakit,” the means of transportation to cross the creek—can only carry two motorcycles along with their drivers. (Chris V. Panganiban / MindaNews)
