ILOILO CITY – Five teachers are among those who perished in the sea mishap involving three passenger boats on the Iloilo Strait, the body of water separating Iloilo City and the island province of Guimaras, last Saturday.
Iloilo 3rd District Provincial Board Member Jason Gonzales said that four of the five are teachers assigned in Lambunao, Iloilo – Ma. Zeny Anilao, Lynlyn Janolino, Ivy Grace Labordo, and Maria Emilie Legarda of the Lambunao National High School.
The fifth fatality was George Buenavista of the Agcuyawan Kalsada Elementary School in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.
The five teachers were on board passenger boat Jenny Vince, which was the third boat that capsized. It was on its way to this city from Buenavista, Guimaras when the incident happened.
The five teachers were in Guimaras Saturday to process requirements for their August 17 to 18 comprehensive examination. They were all master’s degree students at Guimaras State College.
Gonzales said that Legarda’s husband RD was also in the ill-fated passenger boat but survived when he was rescued.
The Western Visayas office of the Department of Education has issued a statement condoling with the families and the communities where the five teachers served.
Twenty-seven persons were killed while six people remain missing in the mishap.
Office of Civil Defense Regional Director Jose Roberto Nuñez said that a Philippine Navy boat has arrived from Cebu to augment the Philippine Coast Guard in searching the missing passengers. (Tara Yap)
