Joselito Malig

Article (news)

Izzy Lee

ABS-CBN News

In the middle of monsoon rains and citywide floods, 20-year-old Dion Angelo &quot;Gelo&quot; dela Rosa left home to search for his missing father.After days of wading through floodwater, he and his family finally found his father detained at a police station.Just days later, Gelo fell seriously ill and died of leptospirosis.<div>ERRAND</div>On the evening of July 22, Jayson—Gelo’s father—left their home in Malabon to bring one of his children to the bus terminal in Monumento, Caloocan.It was supposed to be an errand. He left around 7:30 p.m., but never came back.&quot;Umabot na ng 9:00 di pa rin dumadating. Naghintay pa rin kami hanggang lumagpas na ang 24 hours di pa rin siya dumarating,&quot; said Gelo&#x27;s mother, Jennylyn.<div> </div><div>THE SEARCH</div>According to Jennylyn, floodwaters were already high by then. Heavy rains had been pouring nonstop across Metro Manila, submerging streets.Still, the family waded through the dirty floodwater. She and Gelo split up to search different areas and police stations.&quot;Talagang baha pa tayo nun. Lahat ng dadaanan may tubig, ganun din po sa may Caloocan.&quot;Finally, on July 25, someone informed them that Jayson had been arrested and was being held at Substation 2 in East Grace Park, Caloocan.&quot;Nung makita siya sa substation, nakaposas. Siyempre natuwa ang anak ko at ang biyenan ko nakita si Jayson,&quot; she said.<div> </div><div>SUDDEN ARREST</div>According to Jennylyn, Jayson was arrested for allegedly playing kara y krus, a small-time street coin game.&quot;Kinasuhan po siya ng gambling, eh hindi naman po manunugal ang asawa ko, kara y krus daw,&quot; she said.For Jennylyn, the arrest was both unfair and unlawful. She said Jayson was transferred to Caloocan Police on July 25.&quot;Dinetain siya nang hindi pinaalam sa pamilya. Illegal &#x27;yung tinawag na ganun eh. Kasi kami yung naghanap sa kanya eh. Hindi gawain ng asawa ko na umalis at di magpaalam. Tatlong araw siyang nawala. Sa tatlong araw, di namin alam nasaan siya,&quot; she said.&quot;Tapos nalaman namin naka-inquest na siya, nilipat na sa Caloocan police sa Sangandaan. Di na namin mahabol kung ano ang naging kanyang kaso,&quot; she added.<div> </div><div>GELO FALLS ILL</div>That night, Gelo already wasn’t feeling well. By Sunday, he had developed a fever.&quot;Nung Sunday nagsabi siya sakin, &#x27;Nay, nilalagnat ako&#x27;. Sabi ko, &#x27;Nak, magpahinga ka, uminom ka ng gamot.&#x27; &#x27;Yun na &#x27;yung araw na &#x27;yun, hanggang kinagabihan, natulog siya at di na gumising,&quot; she said.Gelo died on July 27 from leptospirosis, a bacterial infection commonly contracted through flood-contaminated water.&quot;Sobrang sakit po. Si Kuya mabait po talaga niyan. Sobrang bait. Wala po akong masabi sa kabaitan ng kuya ko. &#x27;Yung time na &#x27;yon sinisisi ko yung sarili ko e. Kasi sabi ko hindi pwedeng mangyari sa kanya &#x27;yun e, siya &#x27;yung tipong bata kayang i-sacrifice ang sarili para sa pamilya,&quot; she said.He was a third-year Human Resource Management student and the hope of their family.&quot;Sabi niya pag nakapagtapos siya, pag nakapagtrabaho siya, unang sahod niya lahat ibibigay ko sayo, lahat ibilin mo anong pangangailangan natin sa bahay,&quot; Jennylyn recalled.On August 2, someone helped the family post Jayson’s ₱30,000 bail so he could attend his son’s wake.In a social media post, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David called Gelo’s death “a parable of our time,” describing it as the result of one misfortune after another.“How could this happen? How could a young man’s life be lost due to one misfortune after another?” he wrote. “What choice did they have but to continue wading through the floods when the flood control gate remained broken despite a fresh allocation of 281 million pesos for its repair?”He criticized the police’s continued use of anti-gambling laws to target the poor and raised concerns over the normalization of warrantless arrests.&quot;[T]he police continue to meet quotas on arrests under an old anti-gambling law now being used to bully the poor, while rampant online gambling quietly destroys families. How have we become so accustomed to this culture of abuse of power by some law enforcers, who have normalized warrantless arrests,&quot; he added.<div> </div><div>WHAT THE POLICE SAID</div> The Caloocan PNP confirmed that Jayson was arrested, but clarified that it happened on July 25 at around 4 a.m., not on July 22 as his family stated.According to police, he was caught playing kara y krus in Barangay 112, Caloocan.Police also said that when Jayson’s wife went to the station on July 24 to file a missing person report, he was not yet in their custody. They claim she was immediately informed on the day of his actual arrest.&quot;Iniiwasan po namin yung mga ganung insidente na planting of evidence. Yun po ang inaawayan namin kasi nga kung ano lang talaga madatnan namin sa lugar yun lang po,&quot; said P/Capt. Romel Caburog, Caloocan PNP acting chief of IDMS.Officers said that part of the difficulty came from Jayson’s alleged uncooperativeness during the arrest.&quot;Sa totoo lang kami ay nalulungkot dun sa insidente na nalaman namin na kakahanap nung bata sa tatay niya is namatay. Di rin namin masisi yung kapulisan kasi nga kahit yung tatay di siya cooperative. Limitado sya magbigay ng detalye niya,&quot; he said.&quot;Nalulungkot kami na that time na tinanong namin siya limitado siya. Uncooperarive siya magbigay ng impormasyon. Di namin alam kung may tinatago siya. Pero kami wala sa protocol namin yung di inform mga kamag anak niya,&quot; he added.Jennylyn says their home mourns both the injustice faced by Jayson and the irreplaceable loss of their eldest child.The family maintains their side of the story.&quot;Wala naman akong sinisisi sa nangyari kay Kuya eh. Pero sa palagay ko kasi mali po yung ginawa nila. Sana wag nilang ulitin &#x27;yung paghuli ng mga ganyang tao. Hindi nila pinaalam sa pamilya at wala din namang kasalanan ang tao. Inaakusahan nila ang tao na wala namang kinalaman sa bintang, inaakusa nila,&quot; she said.

In the middle of monsoon rains and citywide floods, 20-year-old Dion Angelo "Gelo" dela Rosa left their home to search for his missing father.

In the middle of monsoon rains and citywide floods, 20-year-old Dion Angelo "Gelo" dela Rosa left their home to search for his missing father.

Man dies after searching for missing father amid floods

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Man dies after searching for missing father amid floods

Izzy Lee,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 04, 2025 11:20 PM PHT

|

Updated August 05, 2025 11:31 AM PHT

Read More:

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leptospirosis

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