February 17, past 4pm. FO4 Bernardo "Boy" del Mar of the Bureau of Fire Protection who leads a pack of volunteers at Rescue 160 gave me a ring with this alarming message "Nor, sakay tas navy boat unyang alas tres kadlawon (3am of Saturday, February 18) kay moresponde tas barangay Guinsaugon, St. Bernard, Southern Leyte; 1,500 patay; daghan bata ugkatonon, naay landslide ganina late morning."
For almost seven years now, I have been working as a volunteer for Rescue 160 of BFP-Cebu City, inspired by Sir BoyD (how our group fondly calls him). Not only is he a mentor to us when it comes to dealing with firefighting and rope techniques in high-angle evacuations, he is also the real "Pinoy big brother". From him, my teammates learned techniques in scuba diving as he is a certified dive rescuer, and with him, a passionate trekker, I had my first major climb in Mt. Hibok-Hibok in Camiguin island, October of 2002.
It's not everyday that Sir BoyD would call me up to ask for my assistance, as he knows how tied up am I to my job, and as there are other men at Rescue 160 who are with him most of the time like Cris Comendador, Alex Salazar, Elvin Cortes, Ferdinand Burden, and the rest of the public servants at the BFP.
But since February 18 was a Saturday, which is my scheduled day off from work, I checked with my news editor if I could be absent on a Sunday and could report for work on a Monday after I would be able to respond to some specific needs by my team at Guinsaugon. My news editor had to consult the editor in chief. Unfortunately, the latter wasn't amenable to the idea because of the so-called lack in manpower at the editing post.
For about ten minutes, I saw my computer monitor go watery and blurry. "We dare because we care," is our motto at Rescue 160 that I strongly felt went down the drain on my part that day along with my purpose. I did go about with my editing task with a heavy heart, feeling so useless.
The only consolation I had the following day was seeing "mah men" aboard the Chinook that transported them to the site of the mudslide tragedy in Guinsaugon to begin digging efforts along with other search and rescue teams from Sogod, Southern Leyte in the hope of raising the number of survivors.
I began texting other members of the group who like me were tied up to their works so to inform them "the men" were already moved to the site of the tragedy. They too were worried about the safety of "the men" who left families behind to be of help to residents of the affected barangay. At such a massive natural disaster, we couldn't skip from thoughts of rescuers ending up being rescued. So we decided to keep contact with them, tuned in to news bulletins so if the need arises we could be there to back them up.
"Well not only was the weather bad when we arrived there. The atmosphere of animosity was worst," fellow-volunteer Cris Comendador talked of his experience. "It has nothing to do with the rains or the mud. The bad weather and the cold, anad na ta ana. Gisugat man gud mi Nor ni (Col. Anderson) Comar kon mag-unsa daw mi didto. Maglayat-layat daw ba mi? Kalagot gyud nako uy di pa lang lagi tungod sa atong commitment to be of service lami ibalik sa agi".
I would not want to talk about this certain Comar because right from the very moment I met him, I already am not solved to giving him my respect for his being a misplaced public servant. Cris said this so-so Comar reportedly appointed himself Ground Commander at that moment in Guinsaugon. I am no alien to the politics of rescuers, us having issues within our circle, sharing a subculture that at times becomes dysfunctional and thus, "needs to be rescued". When I learned such from Cris, I already knew what hell there was for "the men" in what it seemed to be a god-forsaken barangay. I wouldn't expound on the mess, but the "layat-layat thing" is another story.
You see, most of our services to the bureau require our assistance in fire drills, in barangay disaster preparedness campaigns, and other related seminars, the very reason that most of the time we would go "layat" (jump) out of buildings, most especially at high-rises at the Cebu Business District. Our group deals more on preventive measures rather than real-inferno situations.
The efforts of the group were noticed by broadcast journalist Aladin Bacolodan of ABS-CBN's The Insider public affairs program. He made a feature on the Cebu Rescue Team that recognized the group's value. I made contacts with BoyD so to pipe in to him via mobile phone how Bacolodan praised the team.
"Kung pagmamasdan ay pala at piko lang ang dala ng taga Cebu, baon ang dedikasyon na makatulong sa mga biktima ng pagguho ng bundok sa Guinsaugon, pero ang kanilang nagawa ay nahigitan pa ang mga modernong kagamitan ng ibang mga rescue teams," the report went.
Ala Ladder 49
If you already had watched the film "Ladder 49" starred by Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta who played as firefighters, then you already have an idea on how we had established a rapport, or a bond as a team. Gikan sa kabuang, kalabad, kalipay, kasakit, katkat bukid, kahayahay, kahugyaw, kapobre, kagutom, we shared every bit and piece of life, that we seem to be the real family.
There were already Christmases, New Years, Valentines and Holy Weeks we didn't spend with our biological families because we prefer to camp out and spend such special occasions together. There was even the New Year of 2001 wherein we were in Palo, Leyte for the 12th National Boy Scouts Jamboree. And there were Valentine climbs too to celebrate both our love of the great outdoors and of the spirit of volunteerism.
At the BFP, I met them men who "rush into burning and collapsing structures when everyone else are running out."
Seeing those men do the opposite thing - straight into the hands of peril - gives me this feeling of gratefulness to strangers who do the dirtiest, hardest, most stressful work in the world because they believe they should. This was the same driving force in their efforts at Guinsaugon, minus state-of-the-art equipment.
When the search and rescue operations was reduced to retrieval operations, the disheartened men pulled out from their post shaken by the thought of either "being half-empty or half-full" in the fulfillment of their tasks.
A month after the tragedy, Malacañang recognized their efforts with a commendation, which BoyD described to be opportune time to brush elbows with President Arroyo. Then the provincial government of Cebu treated them to a dinner at the Capitol Social Hall where Governor Gwendolyn Garcia lauded them for all of their selflessness in response to the Guinsaugon tragedy.
I have never ever been so touched by a feature on national television, though I had again witnessed that nobility of a goal and the love of work made visible as "the men" moved on top of a debris of loose rocks and muck hoping against hope for more survivors of the mudslide. I have never ever before felt so much pride because those "men working ahead" are people I have come to respect, love and honor.
Those mixed emotions of joy seeing them of service, of fear they might end up rescued too like the Taiwanese team, of being so useless for not giving Sir BoyD a nod that very moment he needed me most, and of anger for those who took advantage of the situation (in all forms) transpired into tears. The tragedy gave me an explanation on why I had found a "niche" among these men - them who do not only have flesh, blood, bones, muscles, but hearts.
They are men who have hearts that bear no price tags or bar codes at this age wherein the promise of materialism has slowly become god and the comforts fished through corruption has been worshipped by some.
To the men of Rescue 160, here's a curtsy for your unwavering dedication "to dare because you care".
For your comments, reactions, suggestions, and contributions, crank up my email addy: pinay_mangatkatay@yahoo.com or text this writer at 0921-5323616. Thanks!