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A single candle is lit up at the spot where a 4-year-old boy accidentally fell into a river near his house in Sitio Tal-ot, Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City on Sunday, June 30, resulting to his untimely death. | CDN Photo/ Emmariel Ares
CEBU CITY, Philippines — When his father promised to take him to watch a basketball game together, a 4-year-old boy excitedly prepared his basketball jersey and patiently waited for his father to come home from work.
Instead of the basketball court, however, the child ended up in the hospital a few minutes later due to a terrible accident.
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Sadly, he was already dead when he was brought to the hospital.
The fatal Cebu City accident took place at a residential area in Sitio Tal-ot, Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City on Sunday afternoon, June 30.
The deceased, a 4-year-old boy, was sitting on the edge of a wall when he fell into the river, hit his head on a part of the cement wall below, and drowned.
In an interview with CDN Digital, his grandfather, Ian, not his real name, narrated how the boy was full of enthusiasm earlier that day.
Looking forward to spend time with his father, the boy asked for his basketball jersey, which is identical to his father’s, and that be ironed so that he could wear it later.
While the adults were inside the house and his younger siblings went out to play, the boy patiently sat down waiting for his father.
His father, 23, was making ends meet as an e-bike driver.
In a short while, however, the family heard another child yelling that someone was floating on the shallow river.
Ian immediately ran into the river with another relative and picked up the boy’s floating body.
But it was too late, Ian recalled.
The boy, who had a big wound on his head, was no longer breathing.
A few days days after the incident, Ian is still having a difficult time to accept that his bubbly and kind grandson has been taken so soon.
The young boy would have turned five in October, and Ian said that his grandson was then already excited to enter Kindergarten 2 later this month.
On Saturday, he even wore his name tag while playing all day saying that he was excited to go back to school.
For the child’s parents, his death was even more heartbreaking after they already lost two of his older siblings at birth.
The 4-year-old was a quiet but charming boy, according to Ian.
When his parents sometimes had an argument, he would say ‘Ayaw na mog away pa.’ (Please, pa, don’t you fight anymore.)
When they had no money, the boy would assure them that it was okay as long as they were all healthy.
He was especially close to his grandfather, whom he woke up early in the morning every day and always asked for bread and money.
Ian shared that the boy had many talents and wanted to be a policeman when he would grow up.
In an unexpected turn of events, his dream has been cut short at the tender age of four.
The little boy is now wearing his school uniform, not during classes, but at his own wake.
His parents, grandparents, and other relatives are left with no choice but to slowly come to terms with his untimely death.
According to Ian, their only wish now is for the child to rest in peace and for them to slowly move forward.
The child will be laid to rest on Thursday, July 4, surrounded by loving family and friends who will remember him as the cute and lively basketball fanatic.
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