By Jennifer P. Rendon
A slipper swept away by a water current claimed the lives of a couple and their teenage son in Calinog, Iloilo.
The incident happened as the family tried to cross a river at Barangay Canabajan, Calinog, at around 8 a.m. on March 14.
Police identified the victims only by their aliases: Toliong, 56; his wife, Clarita, 54; and their 15-year-old son, Lonjer.
They were residents of the mountainous village of Hilwan in Calinog but were temporarily staying at Barangay Camalongo, Calinog.
The victims were on their way to work at a sugarcane plantation.
According to reports, the victims were crossing the river and were already near the riverbank when Lonjer’s slipper was carried by the current and drifted toward the deeper portion of the river.
The teenager immediately attempted to retrieve it, but the water current swept him away.
Clarita swam after her son in a bid to rescue him but was also swept away by the current.
Toliong also attempted to help them but suffered the same fate.
Maj. Myles Dieron, Calinog police chief, said the incident was only reported to them at around 12:05 p.m. after the victims were brought to the Calinog District Hospital.
Members of the Calinog Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and the Bureau of Fire Protection were called in to conduct rescue operations.
Lonjer’s body was retrieved more than an hour later near the area where the family drowned.
His mother’s body was found at the adjacent village of Barangay Pange, Passi City, while Toliong’s body was recovered at Barangay Quinagaringan, Passi City.
River crossings remain a persistent hazard in rural and upland areas of the Philippines, where many communities lack permanent bridges and residents must wade through waterways that can become dangerous even during normal water flow conditions.
