Salceda’s ma dies as floods hit Albay (Bicol Mail)

Salceda’s ma dies as floods hit Albay
By Rhaydz B. Barcia

LEGAZPI CITY — While attending to his constituents who were being threatened by deadly flashfloods, Albay Gov. Joey Salceda suffered the greatest loss when his mother died after slipping and falling in the darkness during the typhoon early morning Wednesday inside their old house in Polangui town.

Cielo Adelina Florin Sarte Salceda, a retired public school teacher died at 6:56 a.m. on July 27 due to multiple internal brain hemorrhage.

Salceda who left the Albay Public Safety Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) midnight of July 26 went home to his house in Daraga, Albay to take some rest. But the governor was soon to rush to the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital before dawn after receiving a call that his mother was brought to the hospital due to an accident. At that time, floods spawned by typhoon Juaning had risen as high as five to seven feet from the ground in the towns of Polangui, Libon, Oas, Daraga, Malinao and the cities of Ligao and Legazpi.

“My mother Cielo Adelina Florin Sarte Salceda passed away today at 6:56 am (July 27) after vigorous efforts of BRTTH medical team to save her after massive and multiple internal brain hemorrhage resulting from severe injuries to her head when she slipped and fell on her back in the darkness of early morning in our old house in Polangui, Albay,” Salceda told Bicol Mail.

Salceda’s mother died on the same day and on the same hospital bed where her eldest son Raymundo, the governor’s brother died in 2007.

According to the report the governor’s mother went down the family residence’s ground floor early morning to check if the water had subsided.

But because it was still dark and there was no power supply, the governor’s mother slipped and fell, seriously hurting her frail head.

The Salceda matriarch was born on Jan. 10, 1922 to Judge Clemente Sapalicio Sarte and Rosario Florin. She was a teacher in her entire professional life and retired as a district schools supervisor in 1987.

She is survived by husband Jesus Saquido Salceda, a three-termer mayor of Polangui, formerly a Vice Mayor and a Councilor for 24 years, son Jesus Sarte Salceda, Jr., vice mayor of Polangui and former Board Member of Albay being the president then of Albay ABC Federation, daughter Anne Marie Salceda Mella who is based in San Diego, California and Gov. Joey.

Her remains lie at their ancestral home in Polangui, Albay. Date of interment will be decided upon the arrival of daughter Anne Marie from the US.