Antique mayor’s bodyguard gives up life to save his boss, passengers

Rescuers assist survivors of a capsized speedboat at the shoreline of Sebaste town in Antique (Photo from Facebook page of Vincent Javier Rubio)

ILOILO CITY—Bennie Dable was clinging to a capsized speedboat with nine other passengers in the waters off Sebaste town in Antique on Thursday when he decided to give his lifejacket to his boss, Mayor Jonathan Tan of Pandan town in Antique.

Tan had decided to swim to the shore to seek help minutes after his speedboat was hit by huge and strong waves and capsized around 10:50 a.m. throwing the passengers into the water.

Minutes after Tan and another passenger Toribio Barrientos Jr. started swimming, Dable, 50, convulsed and died.

“He (Dable) was the only one wearing a lifejacket but he gave it to Mayor so that the other passengers can be saved,” said Jesus Dioso, Pandan public relations officer, citing accounts of the passengers.

Tan and Barrientos swam nearly two hours until they were picked up by fishermen 200 meters from the shoreline of Barangay Aras-arasan.

The mayor, with fishermen on board four motorboats, returned to the area where the speedboat capsized and rescued the other survivors.

Among the survivors were movie actresses Bianca Manalo and Ehra Madrigal.

Dioso confirmed that Manalo is the girlfriend of Tan, 41, who is estranged from his wife.

An initial report of the Sebaste police station did not mention the presence of two actresses but the Philippine National Police in Western Visayas confirmed it on Friday.

Senior Insp. Glen Jaromay, Sebaste police chief, said the actresses were not at the coastline, where the survivors were brought, when policemen arrived.

“They were brought to Pandan before we arrived. We only learned about it on posts by residents in social media,” Jaromay told the INQUIRER.

The other survivors included Mejel Tresche, 65; Madrigal’s husband Tom Yeung, 47; Joyce Mallari and her two daughters, both minors.

The survivors were brought to Tan’s residence in Pandan, where they had been staying since Wednesday. None needed medical attention, according to Dioso.

The group was on their way to Mararison Island, a popular tourist destination in the neighboring town of Culasi, when it capsized around five kilometers off the coast of Aras-arasan village.

Rescuers assist survivors of a capsized speedboat at the shoreline of Sebaste town in Antique (Photo from Facebook page of Vincent Javier Rubio)

“The water was calm when they left Pandan but they were hit by huge waves,” Dioso said.

Dioso was supposed to take the boat ride with the group but instead traveled by land to Culasi before going to Mararison where he had waited for the arrival of Tan’s group.

The mayor had planned to bring the group to Mararison to visit the popular island known for its white beach and crystal clear waters.

Tan will shoulder the funeral and other expenses of Dable’s family. He will also facilitate the bringing of his bodyguard’s remains to Banga town in South Cotabato.

“He is saddened that not all of the passengers were rescued,” Dioso said.