COUPLE Ronnie Dumalo and Desiree Quinabato find romance in the middle of destruction in Tacloban City. JOEY GABIETA
He wooed her for a year, but she was not interested. Desiree Quinabato only gave Ronnie Dumalo a second look when he went out of his way to rescue her and her family during the onslaught of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” on Nov. 8.
“He proved to me how much he loves me during that disaster,” she said. Eight days later, she decided to become his girlfriend.
Dumalo met Quinabato in 2011 during the wake of his friend who died of an ailment. Her house was in Barangay 61, which is adjacent to Barangay 61-B where he lived.
Smitten by her beauty and sense of humor, Dumalo decided to court her. He befriended her with the help of common friends.
Not a match
They had some friendly dates, including one by the seawall at the back of Tacloban Convention Center, or the Astrodome, facing the Cancabato Bay. Today, that place has tents serving as temporary shelter for families displaced by Yolanda, including those of Quinabato and Dumalo.
Despite their times together, Quinabato had not developed any interest in her suitor. For one, she was seeing someone else but they broke up in October last year. Her boyfriend’s mother didn’t like her.
Moreover, she said, Dumalo “smokes and drinks, and his body is full of tattoos.”
At 24, Quinabato said she could be mistaken for her 20-year-old suitor’s older sister. “That is why I kept on telling him to stop courting me. But he was so persistent, telling me that age does not matter,” she said.
Dumalo, a high school graduate, did not have a job, while Quinabato, who reached second year college, worked as a saleslady at Gaisano Central, which shut down after the storm. “My last boyfriend had a steady job,” she quipped.
The way she looked at him changed during Yolanda.
Quinabato, along with her mother Lolita and five siblings, had already evacuated to the Astrodome the day before the storm struck on Nov. 8. When the storm surge rammed into the city, the ground floor of the facility was flooded, sending the evacuees into panic.
Hero-lover
“The water was so high, which scared us all. Crying and shouting could be heard all over. There were children and babies among us … when the water came rushing in so quickly,” Quinabato said.
Dumalo, who was with Quinabato’s family at that time, didn’t leave. Instead, he guided her and the rest of her family to a safe area.
“Shouting at the top of his voice, he asked us to go upstairs. He really saved us from possible drowning,” she said.
Dumalo went back to the ground floor to bring the other evacuees to safety.
According to the latest count, more than 2,600 people were killed during the storm and almost a thousand more remained missing.
“Yolanda proved to be a test of how much he really loves me. He was willing to sacrifice his own self just for me and my family,” Quinabato said.
While she was thankful to him, she did not immediately agree to become his girlfriend until eight days later.
Instinct to help
“Of course, I was happy when she finally said yes. What I did was just natural instinct: helping those who were in need. But my love for her was the main reason why I rescued her and her family,” Dumalo said.
“I promised to be good to her,” he said, adding that he was willing to be “subservient” to her to prove his love.
Both Quinabato and Dumalo have jobs now: she with the cash-for-work program of the United Nations Development Programme and he as a volunteer of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
On their first Valentine’s Day date on Friday, the couple had a simple celebration of pork barbecue in their tent outside the Astrodome.
“There is nowhere else to go here in Tacloban. Anyway, we don’t have money,” Quinabato said.