Army sergeant hurt in Albay NPA attack may go blind

Army Sgt. Antonio Estrada, together with his colleagues, was busy packing relief goods for Mayon evacuees when some 20 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels attacked their headquarters in Daraga, Albay last Tuesday morning.

One of the rebels’ bullets found its mark in the back of Estrada’s head. Fortunately, the hit was not fatal but enough to put him on the brink of death.

Chances are Estrada, now confined at the V. Luna Medical Center in Quezon City, might lose his sight if he survives a delicate surgery which military doctors would perform after determining how the bullet would affect the normal functions of his brain.

Five of Estrada’s colleagues were also wounded in the NPA attack, which Maj. Ronald Rosario, spokesman of the Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command, described as another "dastardly act of the communist terrorists."

Now declared in stable condition, Estrada, according to Dr. Rhoby Orata, a neuro-surgery consultant at V. Luna, would have to wait for several days before the effects of the bullet lodged in his head could be determined.

"There could be a delayed onset of intra-cerebral hematoma, which is dangerous," Orata said.

Estrada has been complaining of severe headache and blurring eyesight.

He underwent minor surgery yesterday to clean and close the scalp that got ripped off when the bullet entered his head. Dr. Bryan Soberon, V. Luna’s resident neuro-surgeon, performed the operation.

Attending to Estrada in the hospital is his wife, Yolanda, who had to leave their 12-year-old son in Daet, Camarines Sur.

"Galit na galit ako. Hindi ko maintindihan kung ano ang gagawin ko nang nalaman ko na tinamaan siya. Wala namang ginagawa ang asawa ko sa kanila pero eto pa ang nangyari (I’m very angry. I did not know what to do when I learned that he got hit. My husband did not do anything against them, but still this happened to him)," she said.