Not so silent on the disaster frontline

We will never know what were the thoughts during the last moments of Army Corporal Jerry Palacio when he was fatally swept underneath the raging currents of the hostile floodwaters in San Isidro, Northern Samar.

In an attempt to help manage the dire situation that threatened the lives of local residents during the onslaught of the torrential rains in the provinces of Region 8, the brave soldier conducted his routine surveillance operations. And according to witnesses, he courageously crossed one of the flooded roads in Barangay Happy Valley. Such an ironic name, which is the site of this tragedy where he was instantaneously gobbled by the raging waters that rose quickly. His lifeless body was found a few kilometers away.

Corporal Palacio has left three young children who were all clueless that their heroic father would no longer come home and work hard for them. His widow was grieving and hoping that the future, perhaps, will have a way of taking care of them. After all, her late husband lived an honorable and selfless journey in the service of the country.

I decided to personally visit his wake not knowing how to effectively console his family. I knew that no words would be enough to ease the pain of a weeping spouse and a distraught mother. His siblings too were all in agony and in an obvious sense of helplessness because Corporal Palacio was the breadwinner of their expanded family. Their collective chance for a brighter tomorrow went down the drain with the untimely death of their brother. I only heard good words about him, who served the military for 12 long years fighting the insurgents.

We brought flowers and a measly sum of funds that were intended to help defray the cost of his burial. We expected that his material situation is that of a simple public servant who would also struggle to make both ends meet. But we didn’t prepare to see that the situation was quite worse than what we were mentally prepared for.

Seeing his children in that condition, and hearing that they might be separated and entrusted to the other members of the family as a means to survive a bleak future, was heartbreaking. Half-consciously, we quietly gave them our personal money to further attempt to show them that we sincerely feel for their loss and that we truly wished that we could do more for them.

We stayed long enough during the wake to personally listen to their stories about Corporal Palacio, their life in this agricultural community and their honest view on how difficult it is to live on a day-to-day basis. In between our conversation, the kids were innocently playing and were oblivious to the family misfortune. Fear on how they would be able to still study in school cropped up several times.

Long distance travel and chance to reflect. From their house in Mondragon, we had to endure a combined more than five hours of travel time to the airport in Tacloban City. And along the seemingly endless road network, I had the rare opportunity of a prolonged thinking time.

Foremost in my thoughts were the possible long-term solutions that the country must undertake to manage the impact of natural calamities. We cannot always simply react. There must be comprehensive engineering solutions that can help mitigate the damages of typhoons, floods, earthquakes and other inevitable calamities. While it is accurate to concede that we cannot win against the wrath of nature, we can also still lessen its unfavorable effects to our communities. We must treat this as an emergency and put all our acts together to minimize the loss of lives.

Solidarity and collective concern must prevail. The family and friends of Corporal Palacio were thankful that we were there to at least represent the government. The officers of the 43rd Infantry Battalion represented by Colonel Efren Moradas were grateful for our visit.

We were also thankful that we were there not so much to assure them that Corporal Palacio was to be regarded as a hero who died while performing his duty as a soldier. But more than that, we wanted to really find out how we can further help the family that he left behind. We expressed our solidarity with them.

And personally, I hoped that our presence assured our colleague, Corporal Jerry Palacio, that he would not leave unnoticed. That the Philippine flag would be with him. And that our prayers will send him off.