MANILA, Philippines -- There was really no time to think. It was act and survive.

Such was the recollection of 19-year-old Rommel Dick Valisno when he, along with other sleeping passengers of the ship M/V Catalyn B, was roused from slumber by a loud crash followed by instructions by the vessel?s crew to don life jackets and prepare to jump ship.

Valisno, a student at the Don Bosco School in Makati City, was among the 33 passengers and 13 crew members who were rescued from sea and brought to the Coast Guard headquarters in Manila, on Thursday.

He told the Inquirer that it only took a matter of seconds for him and other passengers to get trapped inside the dark cabin and for the ship to capsize.

?Two members of the crew woke up the passengers and instructed us to wear the life jackets because the boat had a hole. People just panicked,? he recalled, adding that some of the passengers began to run out of the cabin and jumped off the ship.

He immediately grabbed a life jacket for himself and handed over the other jackets to fellow passengers before the lights went out and the ship started to tilt. ?I just braced myself, ran towards the exit and jumped over board,? Valisno said, pointing out that it was every man for himself by then.

He said that he saw at least two babies and some children inside the cabin with them before the sinking. A number of families, he added, were going to Lubang Island in Occidental Mindoro to spend Christmas there.

?I tried to stay afloat for four hours before the rescue boats fished me out of the water,? he said. It would have been a long overdue reunion with his parents had he been able to come home for the holidays.

?It is actually my first time after two years to go home. I don?t think I would be riding any boat for a long time after this,? he confided.

Another survivor was 20-year-old Marlon Resurreccion who was awaiting word if his cousins and fellow passengers survived.

Resurreccion told the Inquirer that during the mayhem caused by the crew?s announcement and the darkness that followed, he lost track of his relatives Gloria Tanglao and Aileen Jasmine.

?I was able to grab a life jacket but it was snatched away from me. I could no longer find my companions. I just jumped off the ship and struggled to keep myself afloat,? he said. He was, several minutes after, able to hold onto a drift wood.

A few hours later, he and other survivors of the sea mishap who hung onto the driftwood saw a woman wearing a life vest float near them.

?I am sure she was dead because she was floating face down on the water, motionless,? he pointed out.

He expressed hope that his relatives had not met the same fate and said that he would wait for word from the Coast Guard if they had been rescued somewhere in Batangas or Cavite.

Rodrigo Torregoza, a relative of a couple who was on the ship kept his hope up that they were rescued.

Torregoza said that his cousin Renel Abeleda, his wife Aiza and their seven-month-old baby were aboard the M/V Catalyn B. Renel?s sister, Cecille, was also with them.

?I am waiting for confirmation from the Coast Guard if they were among several passengers rescued in Batangas. The Coast Guard said they have not received any communication from there,? he lamented, adding that he has been waiting for hours.

?It does not matter if I spend Christmas here. As long as they are okay,? he stressed.