Army Pfc. Albert Fuyonan should have been
celebrating his wedding at a church in Tagum City in Davao del Norte on Saturday
instead of being confined in a hospital. His company commander, Lt. Alex Daezeta,
is also confined at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center in Quezon
City but is raring to return to action in typhoon-battered New Bataan, where, he
said, “we fell… we will rise again.”
But it was Fuyonan’s bride to be, Rowena,
that was on his mind on Saturday. Rowena does not mind that her wedding had
to be postponed and her gown kept in the meantime. What’s important is her fiancé is alive
and well, after being swept away by the flash flood that devastated New Bataan
town in Compostela Valley. “I knew in my heart that he was going to
live,” Rowena said, standing beside Poypoy, Fuyonan’s nickname, at the hospital.
Although she was composed while she was
waiting for word about Fuyonan in the aftermath of Typhoon “Pablo,” Rowena just
cried and cried when they finally saw each other at a hospital in Davao. Fuyonan is recuperating at AFP Medical
Center, along with Deazeta and his platoon leader, Lt. Jose Enrico Nuas.
The three men are among the 22 soldiers
from Charlie Company of the Army’s 66th Infantry Battalion who survived after
they were swept away by floodwaters, along with the residents of Barangay Andap.
Four soldiers were killed and seven others
remain missing, Deazeta told the Inquirer. “We’ve accepted the fact that as soldiers,
we can die anytime. What’s important was their bodies were recovered for the
sake of their families,” Deazeta said. Deazeta, a member of the Philippine
Military Academy Class 2007, saw combat in previous assignments. But he said Typhoon Pablo brought him face
to face with the most formidable enemy he ever encountered. Against the fury of
nature, Deazeta didn’t stand a chance.
Winning hearts and minds
Two platoons of Charlie Company were
assigned to Barangay Andap in New Bataan, one each stationed on opposite sides
of the mountain. Deazeta, the company commander, said he
and his men had been in Barangay Andap as part of the military’s Internal Peace
and Security Plan Bayanihan since July. In the past five months, the soldiers
developed a livelihood program for the residents, particularly the young people.
Deazeta said he and his men did
feasibility studies before introducing programs so that these would be
sustainable and the residents could really earn from them and improve their
lives long after the military had left the town. By December, the unit had already reserved
2,000 fingerlings of catfish and tilapia. “We were just waiting for the
materials to be used to build the fish pens in the school,” Deazeta said. Charlie Company had also developed a
cooperative project for the military’s auxiliary soldiers, also known as Cafgus,
and their families. Deazeta said they were going to set up a sari-sari store
that would sell goods at lower prices. Everything was looking bright for the
community and the soldiers. Deazeta said nothing could make the soldiers happier
than the residents’ smiles and greetings of “Hello.”
Typhoon alert
On Dec. 3, Deazeta said the company was
alerted for possible rescue operations as Pablo barreled toward the region. On the southeastern portion of the
mountain, where Deazeta and one platoon were stationed, residents went down to
seek shelter in the center of the village, regarded as the safest place in the
area. “Signal No. 2 was announced on television
that night. But there was very little rain and the people were thinking, ‘This
is it?’” Deazeta recalled. Morning came, and so did heavy rains. “At
around 7 a.m., we heard a grinding sound from the top of the mountain. It was
faint at first but then it began to get louder. We decided to evacuate the
people,” Deazeta said. By then, all communication signals were
down as the first typhoon to hit the area approached with peak winds of up to
200 kilometers per hour. The soldier could not use even their cell phones. Deazeta had around 40 men with him and
more than a hundred residents who had sought shelter in the multipurpose hall,
the Catholic and Baptist churches, the senior citizens’ hall, among other
shelters. The soldiers packed people into the KM 450
truck. Lieutenant Nuas and another soldier hung at the back to assist the
evacuees.
Waves kept on coming
Deazeta instructed Nuas to ask for more
trucks from the battalion headquarters to evacuate the people in Barangay Andap.
It was Nuas’ first assignment on the field after graduating from the military
academy earlier this year. “But suddenly, we saw [floodwater] about
two feet high coming. We knew that the truck, with its weight and the people in
it, would hold in the water,” Deazeta said. But since Nuas and the other soldier were
only hanging on the vehicle, they had to jump and run back to the multipurpose
hall where Deazeta was. To their surprise, it was not just
floodwater. The water carried mud, logs and boulders along with it. The flood
swept the truck, which flipped to its side. Then the water subsided, allowing
the soldiers to run to it and pull out the people to safety. Just as everybody had reached the
multipurpose hall, another rush of floodwater came. “It was a wave,” Deazeta
said. Everybody watched the truck bob up and down and finally disappear. Then the waves came one after another,
Deazeta said. He clambered up to the roof of the hall to check where they could
all move because he knew the hall wouldn’t stand in the powerful onrush of
floodwater.
Like being in a blender
But floodwater enveloped the whole place,
trapping everybody. They watched as floodwater swept the barangay hall away.
Deazeta knew they were all trapped. Nuas and Fuyonan were also looking for
higher ground when another wave swept toward the multipurpose hall, Nuas turned
to the soldiers and the people and screamed, “Talon (Jump)!” He saw four soldiers jump with him. No
resident followed. Just as they jumped, the water swallowed Nuas and Fuyonan.
On the roof, Deazeta felt the hall shake
and crash. And he, too, was swept away. Also washed away were Pfc. Ramil Pedrero,
27, his wife Jaysyl and their year-old daughter, Jasmine. Pedrero and his wife would get separated
in the flood but find each other later. Jasmine’s body has not been recovered.
“It felt like being inside a blender.
You’re twisting and turning, and there’s mud, rocks and logs hitting you,” Nuas
said. Deazeta felt it would never end, being
dragged by the current. He also felt being pinned between two logs. “I was
getting very tired. I just surrendered everything to the higher being,” Deazeta
said.
Bright light, helping hand
At that moment, he closed his eyes. And
then there was a bright light and what he figured was a left hand reaching out
to him. He reached back and held on to the hand. When he opened his eyes, he was
hanging on to the roots of an uprooted tree. Mustering all his strength, he
pulled himself out of the mud. When he looked up, there was a church in
front of him. “I don’t go to church regularly. But I pray in my own way. I call
the higher being, ‘best friend,’” Deazeta said. He was naked because the strong current
ripped his uniform apart and was able to reach an empty house where he found
clothes. He later heard people coming and he asked for help. Nuas called out to Jehovah for help.
Fuyonan saw a bright light as he was about to give up but a fallen coconut tree
came with the torrent and he clung to it. When the flood subsided, Nuas stood up and
heard Fuyonan call out to him. But then another wave came. Determined to live,
Nuas jumped to higher ground and anchored himself on a tree with his leg. The two men were soon reunited with the
other soldiers who were able to make it to higher ground, along with the other
residents, the group that took refuge in the church. It was then that they noticed a gaping
wound on Fuyonan’s side. They treated the wound with guava leaves until help
arrived. Deazeta’s fiancée, Chantelle, said that he
was all bruised and swollen when she saw him at the hospital. His eyes, ears and
nose were all covered with mud.
We shall return
His injured men were with him, and when he
tried to walk days later, they assisted him even if they, too, had their own
injuries to worry about. Such brotherhood brought tears to Chantelle’s eyes.
“This could be our most boring Christmas
because we will be spending it in the hospital but it is the most blessed
Christmas,” Chantelle said, wiping away her tears. Deazeta said the rest of the injured men
of Charlie Company were recuperating in Davao. He said the Pedrero couple were
the most traumatized because of the loss of their daughter. But the rest are raring to go back to
Barangay Andap to continue the work they have begun. “We want to go back despite what happened
to us. We want to turn the place into ‘Renewed’ Bataan. It was where we fell. It
is where we will rise again,” Deazeta said.
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