Rising from ‘Yolanda,’ student beats the odds

BRET URMENETA (fifth from left) with students from the University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban, who transferred to the UPV campus in Iloilo City in December 2013 after Supertyphoon “Yolanda” struck. NESTOR P. BURGOS/INQUIRER VISAYAS

MORE than a year ago, Bret Urmeneta had to cross-enroll in Iloilo City after Supertyphoon “Yolanda” damaged their house in Jaro town in Leyte province.

He had to transfer school to Iloilo City.

Yesterday, Bret was beaming with pride because he didn’t just complete his degree in accountancy in the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) in Iloilo.

He also graduated cum laude with a general weighted average of 1.53.

“I feel a great sense of fulfillment after everything I’ve been through,” said Bret, 21.

His parents—Gil and Emelina, both 55, and sister Kristine, 18—flew all the way from Jaro town to attend Bret’s graduation at the UPV main campus in Miag-ao town, Iloilo.

His mother is wheelchair-bound after she was paralyzed from the waist down due to a malignant tumor in the spine.

It was Emelina’s second time to leave their house in five years. The first was when Bret graduated in high school at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City.

Only Bret’s brother, Christian, 24 and a welder, was unable to attend the graduation ceremonies because of his work.

There was pride in the eyes of Emelina and Gil, a jeepney driver, seeing their middle child march with 690 graduates of UPV and do so with honors.

The joy that Bret’s family felt over his graduation, with honors, was in stark contrast to what they went through at the height of Yolanda on Nov. 8, 2013.

When Yolanda struck Leyte, winds reaching 300 kilometers per hour destroyed the second floor of the house of Bret’s aunt in Tacloban City where he and Kristine had been staying. The storm surge flooded the ground floor.

Three days later, Bret learned that the roof of their house in Jaro was blown away.

Gil managed to reach Tacloban to check on his children by hitching a ride from Jaro to Palo town and walking 20 km to reach Tacloban. Fortunately, none of his family members was hurt.

Yolanda caused heavy damage to the UPV Tacloban College campus on Magsaysay Boulevard, Tacloban City, forcing students to transfer their enrollment to other UP campuses.

Bret was among 60 students of UPV Tacloban College who had been allowed to transfer to UPV in Iloilo City and Miag-ao town in Iloilo.

The UP administration waived dorm fees and offered free meals at the school cafeteria for students displaced by Yolanda.

UPV alumni, faculty members and employees, and other benefactors also sponsored meals and provided financial and other support to the students.

During his early weeks in Iloilo, Bret offered laundry services to other dorm residents for P30 per kilogram for extra cash.

At times, he thought of quitting school to ease the burden on his parents, who were struggling to also put Kristine, an education student at Leyte Normal University in Tacloban, through college.

The support of UPV teachers, students and alumni gave Bret the push to persevere.

Bret got part-time jobs in a food company and a small home-based business process outsourcing (BPO) company.

His part-time jobs made him decide to stay in Iloilo and finish his course when the 25 other accountancy majors, who cross-enrolled in UPV Iloilo, went back to Tacloban after a semester.

According to UPV Office of Student Affairs director Ruben Gamala, Bret, though, was not the lone student displaced by Yolanda to graduate with honors.

Gamala said 20 of the cross-enrollees also graduated cum laude during the UPV Tacloban College’s commencement exercises on Monday.

Bret’s parents had been anticipating he would graduate with honors. As early as February, he and Christian bought airplane tickets for their parents and Kristine from Tacloban to Cebu and then to Iloilo since these were on sale. They only paid around P6,000.

When he finally confirmed that he would graduate cum laude, Gil could not help but spread the good news to their neighbors in Barangay Hiagsam, Jaro.