The 2013 earthquake that hit the province of Bohol causes a cemetery to collapse into the river below. (File photo by Vincent Go)
Nov 3 2021
There were no more tears to shed as Saturnino Barace Jr. lighted candles and placed flowers on four tombs in the cemetery on a hill above a rushing river in the town of Antequera, in the central Philippine province of Bohol.
It was All Souls’ Day, the day to remember the dead, weeks after a strong earthquake hit the province in 2013, opening up the ground and claiming the lives of Saturnino’s father, mother, sister, and five-year old niece.
Saturnino still remembers the morning of October 15 that year like it was only yesterday: the chirping of the birds, the gentle breeze that swayed the coconut trees, the occasional barking of the neighbors’ dogs, and the sound of flowing water in a nearby spring.
He and his father, Saturnino Sr, were fixing a wooden bench outside their hut for visitors to sit on when the town celebrates the feast of its patron saint a few days later.
Saturnino’s mother, Emiliana, was doing laundry on the other side of the house. His sister, Elizabeth, a deaf-mute, rested inside the hut, while five-year old niece Shame Jyle was tossing a paper plane in the garden.
Then the leaves rustled, the dogs wailed, the earth moved, and from somewhere beneath their feet came a sound Saturnino never heard before.
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