Stories of selflessness emerge from the rubble

PFC. JOE BARAWID crawls into a narrow crevice to rescue pharmacist Sherlyn Bongay, who was trapped following the collapse of her house in Loon town, Bohol province. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

TAGBILARAN CITY—An army soldier crawled through a narrow hole to reach a woman who was pinned under the ruins of her house, which collapsed when the Oct. 15 killer quake struck Cebu and Bohol provinces.

A Navy reservist roamed with her brother in an ambulance around town to save people trapped in the mountain villages.

Their stories—and those of many others—tell that tragedy at times brings out the best in people. More than 200 were killed and 640 hurt during the 7.2-magnitude earthquake.

Pfc. Joe Barawid was guarding a telecommunications tower in Loon town, Bohol, on Oct. 15 when he received an order at 9 a.m. to proceed to Barangay Lintuan to help in the rescue operations. When he arrived in the village, police were taking turns creeping into a small, narrow crevice to pull out Sherlyn Bongay, a pharmacist, under the rubble of her house.

Having a small body frame, Barawid volunteered to crawl into the hole despite the persistent aftershocks. But before doing so, he called his parents on a mobile phone.

“I told them that whatever happened to me, they should always remember that I loved them very much,” he told them. When his parents said he sounded like saying goodbye, the soldier explained he was on a rescue mission and then turned off the phone.

BARAWID (standing, right) gets ready for the rescue mission. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

“I got scared. I prayed to God that even with the aftershocks, the house would not fully collapse,” Barawid said.

A brave woman

Slowly, he inched toward Bongay, who was sprawled on the floor, her arm pinned by a huge rock. He said he kept talking to the woman, who was in pain, to keep her awake.

“She was brave. She even volunteered to cut off her arm so she could get out,” Barawid told the Inquirer. “I told her not to panic and that I would pull her out.”

He kept on talking to take Bongay’s mind off the pain, as rescuers with jackhammers drilled through the heaps of cement that covered the woman. The successive strong aftershocks, however, hampered their efforts.

“We gave her candies, water and biscuits to keep her awake because she was starting to get weak,” Barawid said.

It took the rescuers 9 hours and 45 minutes before she was finally pulled out at 5:45 p.m.

Bongay lost consciousness when she learned that her right arm was pierced by sharp reinforcement metal bars. She was immediately brought to Congressman Castillo Memorial Hospital and later to Tagbilaran Community Hospital.

Her parents decided to bring her to Manila for further treatment, according to Barawid.

The soldier said he didn’t think about his own safety at that time. “What was on my mind then was to help,” he said.

Special Forces

Barawid, a native of Tarlac, has been in the service for more than two years. He is a member of the 2nd Special Forces Battalion based in Carmen town, Bohol.

He is the youngest in a brood of 11. A brother, Regalado, is a sergeant belonging to the Army’s Special Forces Regiment.

The camp of the 2nd Special Forces Battalion was also damaged during the quake. Most of the soldiers helped in the retrieval and relief operations in the province.

NAVY reservist Gea Cantoja plans to hold training on earthquake preparedness in her hometown in Batuan, Bohol province. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Gea Cantoja, the Navy reservist, also went out of her way with her brother, Rogelio, an ambulance driver, to rescue people trapped in the mountain villages of Batuan town, 52 kilometers from Tagbilaran.

“I went with my brother because he had only one volunteer nurse at that time,” Cantoja said.

They chanced upon a 75-year-old farmer, Olegario Jamil, who was half-buried in a mound of earth in Barangay Aloja. Jamil was tilling his land when a landslide occurred.

“I was thankful because the old man survived,” said Cantoja, who was commissioned as a Navy ensign in April 2011.

2 injured kids

Along the way, the woman reservist said she and her brother were able to bring to the hospital two children, who suffered fractures and bruises when a landslide swept over a river while they were swimming.

Cantoja said they brought Jamil and the two children to a district hospital in the adjacent town of Carmen.

The quake, she said, became a practical application of sorts for her after she completed disaster reserve management training in Manila earlier this year. It made her realize that her town was not equipped and ready to respond to disaster.

She said she would conduct training in her town on what to do during earthquakes.

For Barawid, his experience inspired him to continue helping people. “It feels good,” he said.