“The pen is
mightier than the sword.” Literally, the sword might be mightier than an enemy. Yet no sword is mightier than its handler because its
fate can be controlled by a human being. How about being stronger
than a human being? Who else more is tougher than nature?
Typhoon Yolanda
proved to be one of the strongest ever. No great boxer or wrestler
can ever control or counter it. When nature punishes, its impact is
indeed immeasurable. No one will ever think of that media-portrayed
anarchy fighting for food and water will ever take place. For hardly
hit areas, we can't imagine how they struggled on the first few days
after the typhoon.
Then what about
the firemen? Firefighters, rescuers, emergency responders – name
it. We are one in the fire service. We lost firemen to Haiyan. Some
of them cannot be seen until now. Bureau of Fire Protection personnel
also lost a family member, a relative and even own children. One fire
non-officer was at the fire scene during the onslaught of the
typhoon. While responding team was busy putting out fire that
engulfed a residential area, she had no idea that storm surge already
took her children away in downtown Tacloban City. She ended up
receiving hugs from her commander without knowing why at that moment.
Amidst grief, we
had to work. Faced with the massive problem of water supply and basic
needs for own family, we had to leave. With a home that lost its GI
sheets and trusses, we have to report to duty. Because it is our duty
to serve. It is in our hearts that we serve our country. As far as
Albay, ARMM, Cagayan de Oro or Surigao; we had to be in Tacloban City
to assist our colleagues who can barely sleep. Eating was difficult
now matter how good the food is – adobo, chicken, vegetables –
name them. Swallowing even our own saliva was hard as our rescue
uniform was soaked with decomposing human fluid and skin. Being
members of the Task Force Cadaver, we recover as many dead bodies as
we could see and smell. We patrol on foot just to locate those
missing and hidden bodies from debris. Our latex gloves break after
carrying a few corpses.
There was no time
for excuses. We cannot complain. We cannot call anyone to replace us
to do what we were doing. Work must go on because we are your
firemen.
We are your firefighters. We save lives, we retrieve bodies and bury them even when it rains. While no one else had to cry for the unidentified victims, we too shed tears for them. We are deeply saddened. When heaven darkens we too make river of tears without you noticing it.
As we remember the
demise of our firemen in the great Rockwell fire in December 14, let
us continue the tradition of honoring our Filipino firefighters. This
is to remember not a river of tears that we too shed as human beings
but perhaps the ability and discipline in the fire service to keep
most of those tears in our pockets, suppressing our own emotions and
feelings of grief and tiredness just to let you know and see that we
are your firefighters – strong and ready to serve the Filipino
people.
