Caught by Yolanda, AG Saño put down his camera to pick up the dead

A visitor traveling alone in Tacloban when Yolanda struck, mural artist and photographer AG Saño was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But maybe not. He survived intact and ended up among the volunteers who recovered many dead bodies left by the storm.

He was surrounded by powerful images, but photography could wait.

 

"Pipili ka kung photographer ka o tao ka, o kapatid ka ng kapwa Filipino mo na nasalanta. Mas pinili ko na ibaba muna ang camera," said the mural artist in a "News To Go" interview on Monday.

 

Saño was enroute to Camotes Island for an environmental NGO when he received news that Typhoon Yolanda was going to smash through Tacloban City. Because his hotel wouldn't let him extend his stay, he was put in another hotel by a friend of Agit Sustento, musician, tattoo artist and close friend.

 

The inconvenience saved his life. "Kung di ako umalis, baka casualty na ko kasi totally washed out lalo sa ground floor," said Saño.

 

"'Yung glass door [ng hotel] sinara na ng security. Sabi wag na daw lumabas, delikado. Pinanuod namin yung hangin sa pinto then biglang sumabog ang pinto. Akala ko patay na ko, nagkagulo na, wala nang kuryente," recalled Saño.

 

He and the other guests stayed on the third floor of the hotel, where children, pregnant women, and the elderly were shepherded into rooms. During the storm, he tried contacting his friends, including Sustento.

 

A friend lost

 

It was a day before he learned of his friend's tragic fate. While volunteering, Saño learned from friends that Sustento died with most of his family during the storm.

 

He remembers that Sustento was the last person who texted him before the typhoon cut off all communications. He said his friend was worried about him, for he was on his own.

 

Friends and family are hoping that Sustento's three-year-old son, Tarin, may still be alive.

Genevieve Bindo-Wilcockson, one of Tarin's aunts, and other family members are making the rounds of Tacloban's evacuation centers to find the boy, while friends and family with internet access are posting help signs on social networking sites.

 

Victim or volunteer

 

Saño's decision to stay in Tacloban stemmed from an encounter just after the storm.

 

When he emerged from the hotel, he immediately sought a way to tell his family that he was still alive. Local media volunteered to accompany him and set out to find a facility to relay their messages.

 

Mistaking them for authority figures, survivors who saw them walking pointed out bodies littering an evacuation center inside an elementary school, and asked for their help.

 

Instead of settling to capture these images, he decided to volunteer with surviving government personnel stationed there before the storm.

They assigned themselves the vital but dreadful task of recovering dead bodies and organizing them for pick up.

 

"Una pong na realize ko nung nandun ako, nung first day, in-shock po lahat ng tao, biktima po lahat, even po yung mga taga-national government na nandun prior to the storm," he said.

 

Stunned as those first respondents were, the artist said fellow victims were more than ready to help those in worse conditions.

He recalled a maternity clinic taking him and a member of GMA's Kapuso Foundation in during the first night of the storm, providing them coffee and shelter.

 

"'Di namin nakita ang mukha ng tumulong sa amin dahil gabi na, kinabukasan ng madaling araw umalis na kami. Bayanihan talaga, mas makaka-survive kung sama sama kayo kesa mag-isa ka lang," said Saño.

 

Saño said survivors like him, who were unharmed by the storm, could choose to either become a victim or a volunteer.

 

Listen to scientists

 

Seeing the impact of Yolanda first-hand, he said that a disaster response system should be set up, to mitigate the damage future natural disasters can inflict on the country.

 

"Baka may scientist diyan na may bright ideas. Pakinggan natin ang siyentipiko. Tulad nung nakita kong article kahapon sa Time.com, cinite yung sinabi ng kuya ko: it said something like, this would happen but nobody listened," he said.

 

Saño was referring to his brother, Climate Change Commission's Yeb Saño, who was in Warsaw for the United Nations' 19th Climate Change Conference.

 

"What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw," said the older Saño in a Friday interview with National Geographic.

 

AG ended his interview on NTG with a plea: Listen to scientists, to warnings, and do something about them without getting politics in the way.

 

"Tama na po sana ang pulitika sa ganitong panahon dahil yun ang makakadagdag ng sufferings ng tao," he said. —  Rie Takumi/JDS/HS, GMA News