By Kit Bagaipo
The Bohol Chronicle
The family of Boholano ship captain Florencio Marimon Sr. broke their silence on Wednesday as the skipper of the sunken MV Princess of the Stars was laid to rest in Cebu.
Rose Marimon, the wife of Florencio Sr., appealed for understanding from the victims of the sea tragedy saying they “all suffered losses.â€
Rose said the family did not mean to hide the captain but only wanted to mourn in private and spend the past days with Florencio Sr.
She said the family was planning to announce her husband’s death only after the burial at the Pardo Public Cemetery.
According to Rose, the body of her husband was among 76 remains retrieved in Masbate on July 21, a month after the vessel sank near Sibuyan Island, Romblon at the height of typhoon “Frankâ€.
The body of Florencio Sr., whose roots is from Catagbacan, Loon town, was identified by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) victims’ identification team last Sunday.
The DNA of the captain’s remains matched those submitted by his relatives.
Suspicions that the ship captain was still alive and in hiding ended with his burial last Wednesday.
Florencio Sr., who would have turned 55 in October, was reported to be alive after his family purportedly received a phone call from him informing them that he survived the sea tragedy and was somewhere in Iloilo City the day after the vessel capsized off Romblon.
Marimon had been with Sulpicio Lines Inc., the owner of the Princess of the Stars, since 1976 and rose through the ranks to become on of the shipping firms most trusted skippers.
Rose was accompanied by her five children, two of whom are still in college, during the burial.
There were at least 59 Boholanos reported missing after the sinking of the “Princess of the Starsâ€.
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