My night as a basurera at Villamor Air Base

After hearing about the volunteer operations at Villamor Airbase, the teachers and staff at my workplace decided to dedicate one day of this week to sign up as volunteers. My sister showed me a picture on Facebook about “Nanay Bayanihan” at Villamor and she was able to get in touch with one of the organizers of that group.

She was very excited about us being Gymboree teachers, because the kids who usually visit or are brought to their station were from zero to two years of age. Since space was limited at the base for us, we decided to prepare for activities that could be done in a small area. We packed up our parachute, bubbles, a few of our musical instruments, and a box full of art kits that the older kids can enjoy.

 

A day before our scheduled shift, because we signed up via www.villamorvolunteers.eventbrite.com, one of the organizers of “Nanay Bayanihan” informed us that we should contact the main organizers of the relief operations because we’re an organized group volunteering for the event. I asked her who the main organizers are and she mentioned that it’s one of the Army wives. 

 

Army wives? Huh? How will I contact them?

 

Anyway, I informed her that our group already signed up online and was able to “purchase” our tickets and that we’ll just help out in any way that we can. We signed up because we wanted to volunteer and not because we wanted recognition for our school.

She thanked me and apologized for the inconvenience and mentioned something about "red tape." At that time, I thought the red tape was concerning our school not being recognized for being volunteers.

 

Our group signed up for two shifts, 8 p.m. To 3 a.m. And 2 a.m. To 9 a.m.  Yes, we went a little overboard, but we all thought that there would be less people who would volunteer for the graveyard shift so we decided to go for it. 

 

I only lasted until 12:30a.m. Here’s why.

 

The groups of Operation Salubong

 

Our group arrived at Villamor in three groups. Group One consisted of me, my mom, and one of our church friends; Group Two was Teacher Tet, Teacher Jackie and Ate Suzy (one of our teacher aides); Group Three was Teacher Pisha (our managing director) and two former teachers (Chrissie and Karmina). 

 

Group One arrived at 7:40 p.m., Group 2 at 8:10 p.m. and Group 3 at 9:00 p.m. We all thought that we would end up in the same place even though we arrived at different times, because we all signed up for Nanay Bayanihan – except for my mom and her friend who volunteered as counsellors. 

 

You see, there are 10 groups in Operation Salubong:

 

Marshalling:  People who welcome the survivors from the plane or bus; they are tasked to form a human barricade and to clap until their hands bleed (because we want the survivors to feel welcomed); the men are usually assigned to this group since they also help carry the belongings of the survivors; they also make sure that the family they assign themselves to get food, clothes, relief goods and a ride home to their relatives or the tent city.

 

Medical: You can only volunteer in this group if you know what the “Trendelenburg Position” is.

 

Registration: Their job is to list down the names of the volunteers and assign them to the appropriate groups.

 

Counselling: Headed by the DSWD social workers they train the volunteers to debrief the survivors; they are the only ones who are ALLOWED to talk to the survivors about their ordeal.

 

Day Care: They prepare activities for the kids and distribute clothes and toys to the survivors; Nanay Bayanihan is included in this group and they provide a quiet place where nursing mothers can breastfeed their children.

 

Food: I did not see any cooking facilities set-up at Villamor, when I did my shift, so all the food given to the survivors were already packed; this group is also assigned to distribute the food packs once the survivors are brought to their block.

 

The marshalls divided up the grandstand into eight different blocks so that it will be easier to manage the groups of survivors that come in.

 

Clothes/Ukay-Ukay: once the survivors are settled in their block, this group goes around with big plastic bags of clothes and they help out the survivors pick out clothes; Talo nila ang salesladies sa SM sa pagpili ng mga damit for them

 

Oplan Hatid: The most expensive of all the groups because they drive the survivors right to the doorstep of their relatives.

 

Relief Packing: I didn’t get to see this group but they’re located in the gymnasium and according to one of my groupmates last Wednesday, that place is ginormous.

 

Last, but not the least, a newly created group…The Clean-Up Group. Guess where I got assigned? CLEAN-UP!

 

The clean-up crew is no joke 

 

You’re probably wondering why I ended up as a basurera (garbage collector). You see when we gave our tickets at the Registration Area, they did not assign people according to the group they signed up for online. “As needed” were the instructions given to them. So, if they needed 10 people to be marshalls, they’ll get the 10 names from their file and assign them to be marshals. 

 

I didn’t really mind being part of the clean-up crew. I would have been happy to be assigned in any of the groups but I thought it was such a waste that we would not be able to do the activities we prepared for the kids. Since our group arrived at different times, we also had different groups: Group One – Clean-up, Group Two – Marshalling, and Group Three – Registration.

 

What exactly does the clean-up crew do? We picked up every piece of trash in and outside the grandstand. Now I know the reason why the garbage collectors in our town are not fat. It was doubly hard for our group to perform our duties because we did not have cleaning supplies with us. They only gave us two rolls of large trashbags and we had to haul each bag of trash to the garbage truck. The garbage truck was 500 meters away from the grandstand. 

 

Imagine my mom doing this! She was angry because she didn’t have her cleaning materials with her. My mom and one of my sisters are clean-up freaks. She told me she should have brought her trusty iMop. 

 

We were originally 15 in the group, but after 30 minutes half of our group “escaped” their duties and pretended to be marshalls and food distributors. That’s how difficult our job was. The college students who were with us gave up during the first hour. I know this because I saw them hiding from me and our team leader, Chum.

 

It was okay for us to pick up after the survivors who did not make much of a mess, but what I couldn’t take was one marshall ordering me to pick-up a yellow plastic bag underneath their table.  She even mentioned that the plastic bag had been there since the other day.

 

So, what did I say?

 

“Ok, bring it here and place it inside the garbage bag.”

 

Our shift was about to end and Chum, our team leader, and I decided to call in new people to replace us. We had to extend our shift for a few minutes because nobody wanted to be in the clean-up crew. They were able to get 11 volunteers after 30 minutes. Two of them were doctors and five of them were nursing students.  

 

We regrouped with our remaining crew and that was the first time I saw my mom in three hours. She got preoccupied with a family of survivors and found out that the mom has a brother who lives near Jollibee Molino. That’s 10 minutes away from our house!

She was able to talk to the social worker assigned to the family and signed up for Oplan Hatid so we could bring the family home.

 

Paying P5 for a relief pack

 

Sonny and Kristina are from Tanauan, Leyte and they have a one and a half year old son and a two month old daughter. Mommy, Ate Grace, and I had to fight back tears as we listened to how they got through the typhoon. 

 

I asked them if they had been given any warnings by the local government and they said yes. That is why they were at the hospital when the typhoon hit. Unfortunately, the storm surge was huge and the hospital’s first floor, which everyone thought was safe from it, was swallowed up by seawater. Kristina said that current was so strong that she lost hold of her daughter and dove underwater to look for her. Thank God she was able to grab hold of her daughter’s leg! Their son was with her in-laws at that time and they were so afraid that he had perished in the typhoon that they left the hospital in the midst of the storm to look for him. According to them there were two to three waves of the storm surge.

 

I then asked them if they were able to receive relief bags before landing in Manila. They said they only got the relief bags from the government two days ago. These relief bags contained two kilos of durog-durog NFA rice, two packs of noodles and three expired cans of sardines. There were already bubbles when they opened the cans. 

 

The horror doesn’t end here. They had to pay FIVE PESOS for that relief bag!!! Why? According to the people at the municipal hall, that’s to cover for the gas of the relief truck. HAAAAAH?! 

 

I asked them how they were able to get through the days without any relief and they said that the foreigners gave them biscuits and water. That’s when they decided that they should leave Leyte and go to Manila.

 

Sonny’s brother still had his motorbike with him so he was able to drive the family to Tacloban airport. It was an expensive ride because gasoline was priced at Php200 per liter. Sonny and Kristina, together with their two kids, braved the dust and the rain for two days at Tacloban airport. They had no shelter and you could see the evidence of that on their sunburnt arms and faces. 

 

Kristina had no more breast milk because they were only eating biscuits and drinking water. The baby’s voice was already hoarse from crying. She told me that there was still a long line of people at the airport when they left and she had to cry and beg an American soldier to allow her and her family to ride the plane because the 6 p.m. plane was already full.

 

There have been beheadings 

 

I couldn’t recall the questions that I asked them but what I do remember is Kristina making a comment about the dead bodies. She said that there were probably more than 5,000 dead bodies in Tanauan and more than 10,000 in Tacloban. 

 

“Ang dami po talagang patay, kahit saan ka tumingin may patay at mabaho na po talaga,” Kristina said. 

 

Sonny said people were killing each other there because they’re hungry: “Wala nang gobyerno.  Wala nang batas dun. Nagpupugutan na ng ulo yung iba dun kaya natakot na talaga kami.”

 

Our conversation ended there because we arrived in front of the house of Kristina’s kuya. It was a wooden shack and Kristina even apologized to us because there was no electricity. They were given a lot of relief bags from Oplan Salubong so I helped the men unload the stuff. I almost cried when I saw the face of Kristina’s kuya because tears were running down his face.

 

The whole time they were thanking us and apologizing for the inconvenience they caused us.  Actually, all of the survivors we attended to at Villamor Airbase were all thankful for all the help that is being extended to them. I didn’t see any of them scrambling for food, clothing, or relief goods. The children patiently waited for the volunteers to give them toys. And as I look back at my night as a basurera, I am ashamed to say that I hesitated when I volunteered to be part of the clean-up crew.

 

The Lord gave me the humblest job in the volunteer work and now I understand why. It was by divine appointment that the Lord led us to Sonny and Kristina. If my mom and I had arrived late at Villamor, we would not have been assigned as part of the clean-up crew. If I had insisted in bringing my older sister’s car then we would not have enough room to bring them home to their family. If my mom hadn’t meddleed and argued with the marshal and nursing student, she would not have met Kristina. 

 

Listening to Sonny and Kristina’s ordeal made me realize more how blessed I am. That my family is still complete, I have a bed to sleep in at night, money to spend on food, and things that I want. . .All of these we take for granted and we forget to thank the Lord for.

 

Sonny, Kristina and all the other evacuees still need our help. I encourage you to volunteer at Villamor Airbase not only because it’s the right thing to do or because your friends are doing it but because it is not an outflow of love that you have for our Lord.

 

God bless you and I hope to see you at Villamor! – KDM, GMA News 

Editor's Note: After being temporarily ordered to transfer to Camp Aguinaldo due to a tiff over turf with wives of Air Force officers angling for more control over the relief effort on the base, Oplan Hatid volunteer operations have since resumed at Villamor Air Base as of Thursday night (Nov. 21, 2013).

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