Redoble Family

I was 23 then, working as a technical support in an internet service provider in cebu. Life was good, I loved my job, had a company car and was relatively satisfied with my salary.

Moalboal has always been a destination of choice everytime there is a chance to get out the city, and basdako was always the favorite hangout to have a whole day alcohol drinking spree. What more can you ask, when feeling drunk, just take a dive and a few minutes swim then you are back on the table with a glass full of your favorite alcohol drink and a lighted marlboro stick on one hand puffing and blowing the smoke away.

This one particular day in Basdako was a different one. I was with the usual moalboal friends and an ex-gf Amor and her friend Rina. At first it was the usual thing for us, drinking, smoking, talking , laughing and all..then just before sundown, somebody was screaming from a distance, screaming for help and sounded so desperate. As normal human beings, we all rushed to where everyone was going and finally reached the shoreline…there before my eyes floating were 3 bodies of children with ages not less than 5 and not more than 13, unconscious. Without hesitation I rushed into the water and grabbed the first kid I could reach and took him back to the shoreline, then went back and helped brought out of the water the other two.

Then the ride of my life began…..

I hurriedly went to the first unconscious kid and gave him CPR. I didn’t know what has gotten into me but I felt I was so sure of what I was doing…few year back when I was in manila doing a review class for the BSEE board exam, I bumped into a HS friend in sampaloc manila and few times he invited me to their apartment to have few beers..and yeah instead of doing my review class I was with my friend drinking beers the whole day. His brother in-law was a nurse assigned in an ambulance and in one of our drinking sessions, this guy played the training video on how to do proper CPR…and while I was doing CPR on the first kid, I could remember so clearly what was said to do a proper CPR. I was so focused, I didn’t panic and didn’t have doubts at all…one blow of air through mouth to mouth and 4 pumps on the chest, the body must be in a straight and level position, you must be kneeling over the left side of the body with your right knee touching the left shoulder of the body…then put your left hand over your right hand and pump the chest with the force coming from your upper body. Thats what I did…and after few repetitions the boy started breathing…

Then I went to the next kid, this time I wasn’t able to do the CPR at once because one guy, who believes that the boy was sort of taken by supernatural beings living under the sea performed some rituals to drive out the bad spirits out the boy’s body..and I was so angry I was screaming at him telling him the boy will die and he was so persistent that I needed to push him away from the boy so I could start the CPR..and doing the same procedure the boy started breathing.

Then the third one, a girl, 12 to 13 yrs old….she was the hardest to revive among the 3. Before I could get to her, out of panic and desperation, her family held her by the ankles, turned her upside down and shook her really badly hoping the sea water inside her will come out and revive her. But the sea water went up to her head instead, her eyes were red, probably due to the sea water.

Then I finally convinced them to put down the girl so I can do CPR. And when I was about to do the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the mother obviously worried about her daughter wouldnt allow me to do it and it took a little while before she finally agreed. And then, she was revived after a few air and pumps on her chest.

So, I thought everything is finally ok, we can go back to our area and go on with our drinking session. But I was wrong, the 3 kids were not breathing normally, they needed oxygen so badly, so people started to panic again and everyone was looking for a car to take them to the town and then again without hesitation I said “naa koy sakyanan…adto ta na ta sa hospital!!!!”..pinasyagit pa. I took my car and picked up the 3 dying kids and 4 Adults (parents probably). Imagine driving a cyclone mitsubishi lancer with 4 hysterical adults and 3 dying kids. So I drove with haste, overtaking every tricycle, jeepney, kabayo, kalabaw ug kanding…that road used to be very rough and ugly but that time I didn’t care, I just drove and didn’t feel the LUBAK..kung sa cebuano pa “NANGLIKAY ANG LUBAK”. Befil was in his old jeep with a siren making sure no one blocks the way, but his jeep was so slow and I needed to drive faster because I could hear the parents at the back saying “dong ayaw ug katug dong, ayaw ipiyong imong mata dong” with matching hilak ug agulo. So I drove past the jeep of Befil and finally we reached the clinic of one doctor in moalboal…brought the kids inside, the doctor took a look at them and said “kinahanglan ni sila ug oxygen, unya wa na koy oxygen..in 10 minutes kung di ni sila mahatagan ug oxygen mamatay ni sila”….again everybody panicked..where to get oxygen..the nearest hospital is badian, surely there is oxygen in badian, but that’s 15 minutes drive at least…but still I told the parents to get in the car and we drove to badian…driving with haste would be an understatement, I was driving not for my life but for the lives of the 3 kids. We reached badian hospital in less than 10 minutes, the parents brought the chldren inside and I followed. One of the nurses or doctor (im not sure) came to me and extended his hand and told me “maayo na ang mga bata, kung wa pa to mada diri ug dali-dali, patay na unta sila”, only then I was able to breath normally, adrenalin dried down and my body suddenly felt really weak…then I noticed that I didn’t have a shirt on, I had no wallet and I had no slippers…but the show of gratitude, the thank yous, the handshakes and the pat on my shoulders from strangers who witnessed what I did made it all worth it.

So, the ride of my life has ended and as I was driving slowly going back to Basdako, people flagged me down just to shake my hands, strangers in their cars waved at me and thanked me….it was a very very very good feeling…not that I was famous during that moment, having been able to extend a helping hand to others…WITHOUT HESITATION

That was the ride of my life…share yours

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