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‘Manny the sundalo’ delivers


(Updated 1:53 p.m.) This is the story of a civilian who reached out to a soldier and got the help she urgently needed.

When Gang Badoy, founder of Rock Ed Philippines, was in a panic to help friends who were injured in the tragic Florida bus crash two weeks ago, she was given the number of a soldier who, she was told, would be able to help airlift victims off the site.

“I was given a number to call so I can request for airlifts for the critical care survivors during the Florida bus crash in Bontoc. Someone gave me a number saying ‘Ito, sundalo, si Manny—matutulungan ka niyan, kilala mo yan,’” Badoy wrote on her blog.

And call she did, all while being “stern and firm” with the man on the other end of the line.

“I call this number late late at night to guarantee that a ride will come and fly sila Abby Sicam, Mylo Cabardo, and the rest to hospitals in Manila. I bugged him and was a bit stern and firm, told him, ‘Sir, aasahan ko yang helicopter, ha, ng 5 a.m. sa Bontoc,’” she said, adding that if the helicopter failed to appear, she would call another soldier, AFP PIO Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala.

“I even name dropped Colonel [Zagala] whom I was calling and who helped us during Typhoon Yolanda, and said if wala doon ang chopper, tatawagan ko ang Colonel,” she said.

“True enough, when we got to Bontoc, the Air Force was there, available, willing, efficient. They flew everyone as best they could. Done and done. I was so grateful. So I messaged Manny the soldier again and said thank you,” she added. His reply: “At your service, Ma’am, condolence, sorry about your friends.”

Little did she know that the soldier she was talking to—the man whose number she saved on her phone as “Manny Sundalo”—was in fact the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, and Zagala’s own boss.

AFP chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista presides over a command conference at the headquarters of Eastern Mindanao Command in Panacan, Davao City on Tuesday, February 11 while visiting all unified military commands in the country to oversee the implementation of the AFP's Internal Peace Security Plan 'Bayanihan.' PA-PIO
 
Recalling the incident on her blog, Badoy said she feels a mixture of gratitude and embarrassment.

On her blog, Badoy also posted a text exchange between her and Bautista after she discovered his identity.
“Shucks. Kahiya. I am as diyahe as I am grateful. Mabuhay ang AFP na tumutulong sa mamamayan!” she said.

Badoy writes that she realized the true identity of their good Samaritan the next day, when she saw Bautista’s photo in the papers.

“The next day nakita ko sa diyaryo na nasa Baguio pala si Manny kasi PMA reunions at nakita ko do’n, apparently AFP Chief pala siya. Wasak! Lt. Gen [sic] Emmanuel Bautista was 'Manny Sundalo' on my phonebook!” she said, recalling in hindsight that when she brought up Zagala's name, the soldier had simply replied, “Ay sige, Ma’am, pero ako rin ang tatawagan ni Colonel.”

When she found out who "Manny" actually was, she said she felt grateful that Bautista acted like a gentleman while she was making panicked demands.

“But I must say—ang bait ni Lt. Gen [sic] Bautista, hindi niya ako inangasan at the time I was in a state of edgy panic and urgency. He [could have] pulled literal rank on me. But he didn’t. I’m so grateful hindi niya ako inastahan ng ‘Hindi mo ba ako kilala?’ Or nag alpha-male-whatever, though he must’ve chuckled at how clueless I was when I was bugging him so late at night,” Badoy wrote. — Patricia Denise Chiu/BM, GMA News
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