ANGELES CITY- The bodies of a 13-year-old grandson of Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas and his Korean classmate were recovered after they drowned in the deep waters of the Lawaan Falls in Morong, Bataan last Wednesday.
Jose Llarves of the law enforcement department of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) identified Gullas’s grandson as Kyle Gullas Weckman. The identity of the Korean boy was not immediately available.
Llarves said the two boys were among the pupils, mostly foreigners, from the Cebu International School who went on a field trip to the Subic area. He said that the victims were reportedly swept by strong currents in the river and drowned.
He said that while the site of the accident was within Morong, Bataan, the route to it was through Subic Freeport.
The Korean boy’s body was recovered on the same day, while that of Weckman’s was fished out by SBMA rescuers at about 8:25 a.m. yesterday.
A senior staff of Gullas, who asked not to be named for lack of authorization to speak in behalf of the bereaved family, said Weckman was the only child of Dr. Jackie Gullas Weckman, daughter of the Cebu solon’s younger brother Dr. Jose Gullas.
“The boy has an American father and is an American citizen born in the US,” the staff said. On the other hand, Jackie is an official of the University of the Visayas which is owned by the Gullas family.
Confusion initially arose on the location of the accident, amid reports that the field trip’s destination was Pampanga, prompting police authorities to investigate incidents in a resort in Kalayaan Village whose name resembles that of the falls in Subic.
Tourism officials also checked records of trekkers to Mt. Pinatubo but no accident was reported.
Gullas is on his last congressional term in Cebu’s fist district and is fielding his 26-year-old grandson Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas to run for his post next year. He is reportedly eyeing the mayoral post in Talisay City.
