Anything Under the Sun
The Sinking of MV Don Juan (7)
The aftermath
The tragedy - the worst in domestic maritime history shocked the entire nation. Early the next morning, First Lady Imelda R. Marcos herself was already in Batangas City consoling the exhausted survivors - exhausted even to look for their missing loved ones.
The tragedy raised questions such as: How many were actually inside the ship? How many lives were actually lost?
According to the ship manifest there were 1,078 passengers plus 161 officers and men. But there can be more - the non-paying children, passengers paying on board and the stowaways. Confirmed dead were around 700. Confirmed missing were around 200.
The tragedy also caused the return of the name of San Sebastian Street in Bacolod City which was named years ago then after a local personality. It was recalled that San Sebastian, the patron saint of Bacolod City - the home port of MV Don Juan, is also the patron saint against calamity and tragedy.
At least one family found it hard to accept the worst. For quite a long time, they believed that their missing mother and sister were still living in some unknown island.
The grim lesson
The victims came from all walks of life - high society personalities, professionals, employees, students, housewives, laborers, housemaids - a grim lesson that in death, we are all equal regardless of our stations in life.
When Pope John Paul II visited Bacolod in 1981, he blessed the memorial marker for the victims inside the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City.