ABOARD SUPERFERRY 5—Luigi Domingo, 20, was leaving Mindanao in search of jobs in Manila when he boarded SuperFerry 9 in General Santos City on Saturday.

As the vessel sank last Sunday morning, a bunch of green bananas grown in the predominantly agricultural southern Mindanao region saved him and three others from hunger as they floated about the waters off Zamboanga del Norte for more than eight hours.

Domingo said the bananas "seem to have accompanied us as we floated with the currents" with lifejackets beginning 4 a.m. when the advisory to abandon ship was first given.

Domingo narrated that his three companions at sea have become his friends. They were Jaycee of Nurallah, Sultan Kudarat; DJ of Isulan, Sultan, Kudarat; and Mark of Banga, North Cotabato.

When they jumped into the waters, they agreed to hold onto each other and assigned Domingo with steering the group through the current.

"The night before, I had not eaten much. I began to feel my stomach aching for food around daytime," he related.

He said the bunch of green big cardava bananas was "a grace from God."

"We feasted on them a bit at a time, thinking we might take longer in the sea," Domingo said.

Domingo said he was not expecting to survive, "only promising to try my very best" to stay alive.

Prior to jumping, he texted his mother Arsenia to "pray for me because this could be my last."

As he jumped, his life jacket was detached, "but thank God it just floated by."

Clad only in a shirt and towel after being boarded in rescuing ship SuperFerry 5, Domingo recounted that the most valuable thing he lost in the tragedy was a piece of paper—his high school diploma.

He brought it to help vouch for his credentials for the work that his brother Junard said he could apply for in Manila.

For Domingo and another SuperFerry survivor, carpenter Rogelio Ganuhay, who was heading home to Guimaras after over a month's work in General Santos for a chain of chicken restaurants, all their other struggles seem to pale in comparison now with their sea ordeal.

Having "a second life" was the most valuable of all their triumphs, Ganuhay and Domingo said.

Elsa Monsali, who was heading for Manila to be with pregnant daughter Marivic, said she wished she still had with her the presents she prepared.

Marivic is the youngest of Monsali's four daughters in Maitum, Sarangani.

Monsali said the presents consisted of bukayo, a sweet delicacy made from coconut meal; a bagful of big guavas; and two kilos of dried fish.

"I am still unable to believe how I remained so calm amid the dangerous situation then," said Monsali who never got wet as she jumped into safety onto a waiting rescue boat below the sinking vessel.

She said she felt "a great unease" over her trip to Manila, just before she boarded SuperFerry 9.

Domingo recalled his mother too was uneasy about his departure and even asked him to just take the next scheduled trip.

"But I insisted on the Saturday schedule because she was not able to say why I should delay my trip," Domingo now recalls.