They survived: Victims share painful experience with Yolanda

CEBU, Philippines - PO1 Rito Maghanoy thought his spot at the third floor of his boarding house in Happy Homes Subdivision was the safest area from the flood brought by supert yphoon Yolanda. He was wrong.

At about 4 a.m. last Friday, as Yolanda unleashed its strength, the 26-year-old cop found himself and his housemates clinging for their life at the rooftop at the fourth floor.

“Nagkumpiyansa ra ‘mi na naa mi sa third floor maong wa na mi namakwit. Naabot pa sa rooftop ang tubig, paspas kaayo nisaka (We were confident and did not move out of the house because we were in the third floor, but the water rose fast up to the fourth floor),” said Maghanoy, a native of Siquijor who is assigned at Tacloban City Police.

For some 10 minutes, floodwaters worsened by the storm surge filled the downtown area and almost the rest of Tacloban City with at least 15-feet deep water, actually exceeding the height of the three-storey Gaisano Metro of the city.

“Paspas kaayo nisaka ang baha. Grabe wa g’yud ko magdahom na ingon ato ang gikusgon sa bagyong Yolanda (Waters rose very fast. I never expected that the typhoon was that strong),” Maghanoy lamented.

As the policeman held on for his life on the rooftop, the storm surge blew him off from the building. He and his housemates were carried by the current.

“Daghang mga sin nanlupad og mga kahoy nakakalat. Ang akong kauban nakit-an pa nako natusok iyang likod ug namatay tawon. Nagdahom g’yud ko na matuok sad ko ug mamatay na sad ko adto (Roofs were torn off the houses and trees were uprooted. I saw my friend die after he got pierced in the back. I thought I, too, was going to die),” Maghanoy narrated.

He said he almost gave up when he saw the rooftop of another building nearby. He swam as fast as he could towards the place. He stayed there and watched for flying debris, until the flood subsided.

Maghanoy was not able to save anything, not even his police uniforms and service firearm. He also sustained cuts on his arms.

“Bahala na lang basta kay buhi ko. Di na angay maguol akong pamilya sa Siquijor, although wala pa g’yud ko kakontak nila ‘ron, but at least mahibaw ra sila na buhi g’yud ko (What’s important for now is that I survived and that my family knew I’m alive)” he said.

At this point, Maghanoy turned to his other house mate, PO1 Eric Ponce, who lost his brother and sister-in-law and the couple’s three daughters ages 9, 11 and 16, to the flood. The policeman could only muster sadness.

Ponce who, like Maghanoy, sustained cuts and bruises, said the flood washed his family away from the rooftop and he was only able to grab the arm of his 58-year-old mother.

“Ang mama ko lang talaga ang naligtas ko. Ang mga kapatid ko, mga pamangkin ko, inanod sila. Nakita ko pang natusok ng kahoy ang isa kong pamangkin (I only managed to save my mother. I saw my family washed away by the flood),” Ponce told us. He was still in shock as he was speaking to The Freeman. 

Ponce, who is undergoing Field Training Program, also lost everything.

Meanwhile, the flood also did not spare the house of Ronnie Alberto, 39, in the coastal area of Barangay 37.

Luckily, Alberto, a native of Catanduanes and who has worked as a porter in Tacloban City for 16 years, survived with his wife, and six children, including his eight-month pregnant daughter.

“Paghampas ng baha sa bahay namin, napunta kami sa ilalim ng tubig. Eh, daladala ko pa dalawang maliliit kong anak sa likod ko, pagkaalis namin sa tubig, bubong na namin ang nasa ulonan ko (We were all submerged when the flood hit our house…I was bringing my small children on my back. We managed to surface from the water and our heads hit the roof of our house),” Alberto narrated.

After helping his wife whose got pinned down by debris, they all swam fast towards a building at the back of their house before another huge wave hit them.

“Naka-experience na ako ng supertyphoon sa Catanduanes noon, pero ibang-iba sa supertyphoon dito sa Tacloban. Ngayon lang ako natakot nang ganito sa bagyo (I experienced a strong typhoon in Catanduanes but this was different. I have never been scared of a storm before),” Alberto said in Waray.

Some 5,000 evacuees in the Astrodome, a few meters from the City Hall, also survived, except for an eight-year-old boy who was pinned to death during a stampede and a woman who gave birth to a girl at the height of the super typhoon.

A rescuer from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) narrated that all the evacuees panicked when the waters suddenly entered the dome. They ran as fast as they could to higher ground.

“May buntis, hindi pa sana niya oras manganak nun, eh, nakapanganak siya at 5 am, kasagsagan ng bagyo. Kakalungkot lang namatay siya pati ang anak niya. Wala nang nakatulong, pati asawa niya walang nagawa (A pregnant woman who wasn’t due until a few months gave birth prematurely. She and her child died. Her husband also could no longer be found),” the rescuer lamented.

The survivors are sheltered temporarily housed in at least 13 evacuation centers in the city.

Slow response?

One survivor, Concordia Demontabon, 64, told The Freeman, that she received her share of relief goods only yesterday, five days after the storm.

She said she was glad that her family now have food to eat, but admits the one kilo of rice, three canned sardines, and three packs of noodles, won’t last long for a family with eight members.

“Hindi talaga ‘to sapat. Isang araw lang ‘to. Ilulugaw ko na lang talaga ang bigas para magkasya nang ilang araw sa pamilya ko (This isn’t really enough. I will just make porridge so our supplies will last longer),” Demontabon said in Waray.

Since Friday, her family relied on a handful of rice that they were able to save from the flood, biscuits, noodles, bottled water, and on instant coffee to warm their stomachs in the morning.

She admitted thinking of lining up again discreetly so she could get more relief goods.

“Hindi naman pwede kasi may isang stub lang na binibigay sa amin (One stub for relief goods isn’t enough),” she told The Freeman.

She said the distribution of relief goods in their barangay was way too late, but they had no choice but wait since they had nothing to depend on.

She was one of the hundreds of survivors who lined up near the port to receive relief goods delivered in Barangay 37 yesterday by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 8.

Each family received one stub distributed by the barangay captain, who acquired the stubs from DSWD.

DSWD social worker Carmela Bastes, who supervised yesterday’s distribution in Barangay 37, said they will soon deliver the second wave of relief goods.

“Inaantay pa lang natin na dumating pa ang ibang relief goods (We’re still waiting for the other relief goods to arrive),” Bastes said, without giving any specifics.

The distribution was guarded by military personnel, who also transport the goods from the DSWD center to the different barangays.

The goods delivered to Tacloban City are transported from Cebu and Manila by assets of the Army, Philippine Navy, Philippine Air Force, and Philippine Coast Guard.

Commodore Reynaldo Yoma, commander of Naval Force Central, said they just wait for the DSWD to take the relief goods from their vessels.

Philippine Navy’s Logistic Craft 551, among other vessels that reached Tacloban City, arrived on Saturday and was set to depart back to Cebu before typhoon Zorayda could have struck yesterday, but majority of the goods were still in their vessel last Monday.

A Navy officer who refused to be named even complained that the DSWD is taking so long to get the goods, while many survivors have not yet received these and have been already complaining of hunger.

In fact, DSWD officers were scolded by SILG Mar Roxas, who checked on the situation of Leyte on Monday.

“Iyong mga relief goods, hindi iyan ginto, dapat inilalabas niyo iyan,” Roxas was heard telling the DSWD officers. — /JMO (FREEMAN)