Street workers finding ways to cope with summer heat

Nihangyo ra ko sa ginoo ‘kung imo kong kuhaon, paabta ra’g buntag’ (I asked God ‘if you’ll take me, let me extend till morning’).”

So said 51-year-old Florida Cometa, a Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) aide who recounted her episode of hypertension while on duty at the Fuente Osmeña Circle on March 15 last year.

“I didn’t feel any pain that time. My neck and back didn’t hurt. It was normal. Then suddenly, blood came rushing out of my nose,” Cometa said in Cebuano.

She tried to ignore it at first and didn’t feel anything when she took a break.

“But at 2 a.m. my nose bled again. It stopped after 30 minutes but I bled more. It was then that I asked God to let me live until tomorrow,” Cometa said.

The next day she took a leave and was rushed to the Cebu City Medical Center due to her high blood pressure.

She was discharged four hours later and was advised to transfer to an area where she is protected from the heat.

The Mactan office of the state weather bureau Pagasa said they expect the temperature to continue to rise in Cebu ranging from 24 C to 34 C.

Mactan Pagasa analyst Armando Danag said they advise street sweepers, traffic enforcers, parking aides and vendors to cover themselves as much as possible to protect them from the summer heat.

A 52 year-old street vendor for three years, Bernadette Doller, said commuters would often buy warm mineral water from her.

“Some of them would feel faint and some kids would even vomit. The heat is different now,” she said.

Street sweeper Benedicto Pardillo found his own way to cope with the heat. “I just drink directly from the water hose),” he said.