By EMILY G. BUGARIN, with a report from Roy C. Mabasa
The family of Filipino caretaker Melody Albano Castro was devastated upon receiving Thursday night the report of her death inside the 12-story residential building that gave way during a 6.4 magnitude earthquake Tuesday in Hualien, Taiwan.
Mary Jane Albano, Melody’s aunt, said her niece’s demise was so hard to accept for her parents Nonilet and Normida, her disabled husband JR Castro, and six-year-old daughter, who depended on her earnings to live.
“Hindi pa nila matanggap ang pagkamatay ni Melody dahil alam mo na siya lang ang talagang bumubuhay sa kanila,” Mary Jane told Tempo in a phone interview.
The Albano family was still praying for her safe rescue from the collapsed building when they received a call from Manila Economic Cultural Office informing them of the sad news, according to Mary Jane.
“Around 6 or 7 p.m. nakatanggap ako ng tawag mula sa taga-MECO at sinasabing nakuha na ang bangkay ni Melody.
Nadaganan daw ng isang malaking cabinet ang pamangkin ko,” Mary Jane shared. “Iyak nang iyak ang kaniyang ina at ‘yung mag-ama niya; nawalan ng malay ‘yung kaniyang ama nang malaman ang balita,” Mary Jane added.
MECO chief Angelito Banayo reported that the body of Albano was found inside a closet at 5:45 p.m. Thursday.
Mary Jane said her niece was able to contact her friends through the Internet at the time of the massive quake.
“Nahihilo ako, nahuhulog na ang mga gamit,” Mary Jane was quoted by her friends as saying. It was Melody’s last message.
Melody’s parents are both farmers in Abulug, Cagayan, about two-and-a-half-hour drive from Tuguegarao City.
A Hotel Restaurant Management graduate of the Cagayan State University, Melody was forced to work in Taiwan in 2015 to be able to pay the money she loaned for the hospitalization of her husband. Her husband figured in a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed, according to Mary Jane.
“Hanggang ngayon, hindi pa nila nababayaran ang inutang nila para sa pagpapagamot ni JR,” Mary Jane told Tempo.
Mary Jane said an Overseas Workers Welfare Administration representative went to their house yesterday, informing them that the body of Melody will be repatriated to Tuguegarao after a week. “Sinabihan kami ng taga-OWWA na hintayin namin ang bangkay ni Meloday sa Tuguegarao airport,” said Mary Jane.
Meanwhile, the Taiwanese government extended its condolences to the family of Melody.
“We would like to extend our sincere condolences and sympathy to the family,” Dr. Gary Song-Huann Lin said in television interview yesterday.
“We are sorry. We also share the – we are very sad at the news – the grief of the family,” he continued. “Our hearts are with the family at this (trying) time.”
Along with other forms of assistance, Lin also extended an offer to the family of the victim to visit Taiwan to claim her body.
“If the family would like to visit Taiwan, if there’s anything my office, TECO (Taipei Economic and Cultural Office), can do, we’ll do our very best to assist them, to deal with the whole thing,” he said.
According to Lin, Albano’s body was already in a funeral parlor.
Melody worked for a Japanese couple in a nursing home inside one of the four buildings that collapsed during the quake in Hualien, a popular tourist city in Taiwan.
Melody’s brother, Jayson Albano, said she was set to return in June at the end of her three-year contract. “Hindi pa siya nakakauwi simula noong umalis siya,” said Jayson.
The powerful quake killed at least 10 people and injured 265 others. More than 50 people were reported missing, many of them believed to be trapped in a 12-story residential building in Hualien.