TALES FROM THE DARK AND DEEP
Jokes, stories kept their hopes alive
By Delmar Cariño
Northern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 03:55:00 10/02/2008
Filed Under: Mining and quarrying, Accidents (general)
BAGUIO CITY-Antonio "Ngitit" Pagulayan, 22, survived the flooded underground mine tunnels of Itogon, Benguet, for seven days because he kept his sense of humor.
He swapped stories and jokes with another miner, Jose Panio Jr., 22, to while away the long hours.
The only thing he missed was his bag of betel nuts, locally known as "momma."
Common to Ifugaos, momma is chewed like tobacco to keep miners like Pagulayan alert and less hungry.
"Chewing the momma could have kept us or me, busy. But I forgot it," Pagulayan said from his bed at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) here Wednesday.
Pagulayan and Panio, both natives of Hingyon, Ifugao, were rescued on Sept. 29, the first ones to be taken out among the 16 small-scale miners who entered the abandoned tunnel in the Antamok gold field on Sept. 22 in the midst of Typhoon "Nina" (international code name: Hagupit) that caused flooding in the shafts.
Four other miners were rescued on Tuesday while three more were plucked out Wednesday. All of them are recovering well at the BGHMC, their doctors said.
Pagulayan said he and the other miners did not mind the typhoon since they had been used to go inside the tunnels looking for "paltek" (gold veins) even during a heavy rain.
He said he and Panio were assigned to Level 700, the deepest area in the mine field previously operated by Benguet Corp. The area could be reached within 45 minutes to an hour since the way from the portal is mostly downhill.
"We entered at six in the evening since it was our assigned job time," Pagulayan said.
Meat loaf for one meal
Pagulayan said it was his second time to enter the tunnel. He and Panio only brought with them a can of meat loaf each and water in three one-liter Coca-Cola plastic bottles.
He and Panio prepared only for one meal since they expected to be relieved after five or six hours and leave the tunnel around midnight.
An hour later, Pagulayan said he noticed water rising in the tunnel. When the water continued to fill the tunnel, he and Panio decided to climb to an elevated area around three to five feet from where they worked.
Pagulayan said he and Panio got stuck in that area as they could no longer swim because of the water current. Doing so would be risky. He knew the shaft where they could go back to the surface was far from where they were.
Only the light from Panio's helmet and the stories they shared kept them sane, Pagulayan said. The light from his helmet earlier gave up.
Murky water
Both he and Panio had to drink the murky water flowing in front of them to survive, Pagulayan said.
They had already consumed the bottle of water they were able to save since the two other bottles got lost when they scrambled to safety.
Asked what stories he and Panio talked about, Pagulayan said almost everything. Most of the stories made them laugh, he added.
"We were on the verge of crying but we had to entertain ourselves by telling stories," Pagulayan said. "If we live, we live. If we die, we die."
But after sometime, he noticed that the water level dipped a bit. Panio shouted repeatedly. He and Pagulayan heard responses but could not exactly recall the words.
He and Panio then knew rescue was just around the corner.
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