ILOILO CITY – Five years after 31 people died when three passenger boats capsized on the Iloilo Strait separating the island-province of Guimaras and Iloilo City, a survivor of the sea tragedy credits her strong faith.

“Kon wala ang Dios, basi napatay guid ako (If God was not there, I would have died),” said Amelia Pajutagana.

AMELIA Pajutagana poses at the Parola Wharf in Iloilo City. She is one of the survivors of the sea tragedy on the Iloilo Strait that killed 31 people on August 3, 2019.  (Tara Yap) 

The 70-year-old was a passenger on the ill-fated MB Jenny Vince, which was the third passenger boat that capsized on the Iloilo Strait on August 3, 2019.

“Nag pangadi lang ako maskin nabudlayan ako mag ginhawa sa idalum sang tubig (All I can do was pray even when I found it hard to breathe underwater),” Pajutagana told the Manila Bulletin.

MB Jenny Vince was coming from the wharf in Buenavista town, Guimaras and was supposed to ferry passengers to Iloilo City when a pugada (squall) or a sudden strong winds and waves emerged, causing the boat to flip over. 

Pajutagana recalled she was supposed to go to Iloilo to attend the birth anniversary celebration of a relative when tragedy struck.

She never made it to the event but considered herself blessed to survive.

Already a senior citizen at that time, she thought she could not make it.  She said she may have lost consciousness as she does not even remember who rescued her.  

Pajutagana later learned that 20 of the 31 people who died in the tragedy were fellow passengers.

She said the tragedy should have been the time that the government seriously pushed the construction of the Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridges.