Carpenter tells of 65 days of dodging bullets

MARAWI CITY—For 65 days, Dodong did everything to dodge wayward bullets coming from either Maute gunmen or soldiers.

But one day, while hiding on the roof of a house from the terrorists that had rampaged through the lakeside city, a bomb fell so close to him that he was hit by shrapnel.

The injury wasn’t serious, but the 41-year-old native of Cagayan de Oro City suffered from soft-tissue infection that he tried to bear as the days went by.

Dodong, a father of four who came to the city  to work as a carpenter only to be trapped in the fighting, said he had to endure the gun battle and the airstrikes until he escaped.

“I was so scared. I prayed to God to keep me safe. Whenever the military bombed the enemy position, it was as if my ears would explode too,” he said.

The carpenter was among hundreds of civilians who were trapped in the city when fighting erupted between government forces and the Islamic State-inspired militants on May 23.

While many fled, he was told by his employer to stay behind, lest he be killed by the Maute gunmen if they saw him. And so he did.

From the rooftop of his employer’s house, where he hid, he once saw about 100 young fighters, aged about 19 and younger, on the streets below.

“I can see them from my location. They burned the houses. I saw very young fighters with guns,” the carpenter, who asked to be identified only as Dodong, said in Filipino.

While on the roof, surviving on food left behind by his employer, a bomb exploded nearby.

Dodong said he felt a stinging pain in his left leg. He found out later that he was hit by a splinter.

But the fear of the Maute gunmen was more intense than the pain of his wound.

Dodong decided to stay in the house even if bombs were exploding around him. As days passed, the number of the gunmen dwindled. Even then, Dodong said he had not dared to go out of hiding.

“I can’t get out because a lot of them are just within the vicinity,” he said.

But on July 28, he heard the gunmen talking about burning the house he was hiding in. That’s when he decided to escape.

“I remember it was late afternoon. They were firing their guns at me while I was running away from the house,” he recounted.

Dodong said he tried very hard to avoid being hit, and just kept running.

It was about 7 p.m. when Dodong reached the Bangolo Bridge, according to 1Lt. Ace Guintibano of the Army’s 1st Infantry Battalion.

“I felt relieved when I saw the soldiers,” he said.

Dr. Samsia Dimapinto said the carpenter was in stable condition and might be allowed to go home soon.

Dodong said he wanted to go home to Cagayan de Oro City as soon as possible to be reunited with his family.