www.inq7.net/reg/2004/feb/12/reg_7-1.htm
Posted: 4:24 AM (Manila Time) | Feb. 12, 2004
By Blanche S. Rivera - Inquirer News Service with Inquirer wires
DOUBLE TRAGEDY
Man killed 24 days after wife died at sea
He was the quiet force that allowed his wife to set sail.
Twelve days after attending a shipboard ceremony in Norway
which honored his wife Marife and other dead seafarers of the
ill-fated MV Rocknes, Gerardo Cave became a victim of tragedy
himself.
Cave, 34, was gunned down by four armed men in Santa Elena
town, Camarines Norte province, on his way to visit his sick mother
in Daet town, police said Wednesday.
Gerardo is the husband of Marife Cave, 30, one of 18 crew members
who died when the MV Rocknes capsized after running aground on
Jan. 19. Only 12 people were rescued several hours after the accident.
On Monday, the number of bodies retrieved from the wreck totaled 11,
Norwegian, the local news agency reported. Two more bodies remain
missing while many of the corpses have not yet been identified. The
accident claimed the lives of 16 Filipinos, one German and the
Norwegian captain of the ship.
Gerardo Cave's death is another blow to the couple's three children,
ages 2 to 5, who are in their grandmothers' care.
"What really happened is very sad because we just got back from
Norway," said Marife Cave's mother, Renie Dojillo, who traveled to
Norway with her son-in-law.
Antonio Ibuna of Santa Elena police ruled out robbery as a motive,
saying the victim's mobile phone and other belongings were intact.
He said Cave and his nephew, Joseph, were driving last Friday
when they were shot dead by four men following them in another
vehicle.
Both victims were found still strapped to their seats in Cave's black
Honda, which was riddled with bullets. Cave died from eight gunshot
wounds, mostly in the face and head, while Joseph suffered four
wounds also in the head. They died on the spot.
"We have a very, very good lead on the case," said Chief
Superintendent Jaime Lazar, the regional police chief.
Olive Chin, assistant vice president of the ship's operator, Jebsen
Management, said Cave had received his wife's wages, but like
other victims' relatives, had not been paid a settlement.
The Department of Labor and Employment earlier disclosed that the
employer will give 60,000 dollars to the family of each victims in
insurance and death benefits, plus 15,000 dollars for each child left
behind. This is on top of the 200,000 pesos in benefits from the
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
All in all, Cave was likely to receive a total of around six million pesos
as a result of Marife's death.
"Whoever they are, they really wanted him dead. If it was for the money,
they can be sure that Gerry had not received anything yet," a cousin said,
adding that there have been suspicious characters surveying Cave's wake.
"He was a very good man. He worked quietly. He supported his wife and
had no vices even when they were apart," another relative said.
Feeling lost
Cousins close to him said Cave has been "feeling lost" after Marife's
death was confirmed. He and Marife wanted to move in their own house
when her contract was over, but their dreams sank with the MV Rocknes.
Cave was also a seaman who worked as deck officer for a ship whose
crew is deployed by Aboitiz-Jebsen. He, however, decided to stay in the
country so his wife Marife, a licensed fourth engineer, could have
shipboard experience for two years and achieve her dream of becoming
chief engineer.
Cave and his wife Marife, who was three years his junior, are both
graduates of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy. He took up
engineering at the Technological Institute of the Philippines for two years
before applying in the nautical school. Cave dreamed of joining the
Philippine Navy, but he and his wife decided against it because of the
children.
Cave used to teach at PMMA but quit recently to put up a training school
for seamen in Manila. He was also a consultant of ISO in the Philippines.
His two older children, aged six and four, are with Marife's parents in
Muntinlupa City while the youngest, aged three, is with Cave's mother
in Daet.