Pinoy teacher in Myanmar appeals to PH humanitarian team: Prioritize Mandalay

A Filipino teacher working in Myanmar on Monday appealed to the humanitarian assistance team set to be deployed by the Philippine government to the earthquake-hit country to prioritize helping Filipinos in the Mandalay area.

According to Teacher Dan, he personally knew three out of the four Filipinos who remained unaccounted for following the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that jolted Myanmar last Friday, March 28. That’s why, he said, he is also helping look for them.

“‘Yung tatlo na nawawala, ‘yung mag-asawa saka isang PE teacher, ay kasamahan ko po ‘yun. At saka ‘yung asawa ay close friends ko po kasi magka-batch kami at kababayan ko po ‘yun sa Negros,” Teacher Dan said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

(I worked with the three Filipinos who are missing—the married couple and the one who worked as a PE teacher. I was close friends with the couple because they were my batchmates and they were also from Negros province.)

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that the couple were residing in a building that collapsed due to the earthquake.

Dan said that he frequently visited the unit where the couple lived, so he knew their personal belongings. Right now, he said he could only stare at the couple’s room wrecked by the earthquake, hoping that his friends are still alive.

With the Philippine government expected to deploy 114 personnel to provide humanitarian aid to Myanmar by April 1, Dan said he hopes that they will immediately provide assistance to the Mandalay area.

“Yes po, opo. Kasi ito ‘yung sinasabi, wala naman ibang nabalita na mga Pinoy na kinakailangan ng tulong sa ibang lugar. Malaki ang Mandalay region, may ibang mga towns pa na affected. Pero ‘yung Mandalay talaga, ito kasi ‘yung mas may malalaking buildings at ‘yung Sky Villa ‘yung pinakamalaking gumuhong building dito,” he said.

(Yes. There were no Filipinos in other areas who were reportedly seeking help. The Mandalay region is big and there are other towns that were affected. But the bigger buildings are in Mandalay and the building where the couple reside was the largest one here that collapsed.)

“Kailangan po talaga. Sana, kahit nga ngayon po dapat ASAP talaga kasi mabagal talaga ang rescue dito, so mas maigi na mga Pinoy sana [ang tutulong] kasi apat na Pinoy pa ang hindi nakikita at ‘di namin alam nasaan sila ngayon. Nasa ilalim ba? Buhay pa ba sila?”

(We really need them. Hopefully even now, they will provide help immediately because the rescue here is a bit slow. It’s better that fellow Filipinos will look for those who are missing. We don’t know where they are—are they under the debris? Are they alive?)

Personally, Dan said he would still like to continue working as a teacher in Myanmar even after the devastating earthquake because he is the breadwinner of his family.

DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said that the agency is expecting repatriation requests from Filipinos in Myanmar, as some lost their jobs due to the earthquake.

The strong quake was also felt in Thailand, but the DFA said there were no Filipino casualties there.

'Traumatic experience'

Nica Paguio, a Filipina working in Bangkok, recalled her traumatic experience. She said she and her colleagues had to get out of the second floor of a building where she was doing a live selling when the earthquake occurred.

She said the situation is better now and none of them got injured. Nonetheless, she said they still have to remain alert for any possible event.

“So far, wala naman [nasaktan]. Even ‘yung mga kasama ko rito, lahat kami ay okay. At one point lang nung nagtatakbuhan kami, medyo nagka-hiwa hwialay kami kaya may sigawan na nagpa-panic kami, naghahanapan kami. Pero in the end, lahat kami nagkasama sama nung pababa na kami,” Paguio said in an Unang Balita interview.

(So far, no one was hurt. We are all okay, even those who are with me here. At one point when we were running, we were separated so we were shouting and we panicked, but in the end, we were able to look for each other.)

The death toll in Myanmar due to the March 28 earthquake has already reached more than 1,700, according to a Reuters Monday.

In a statement on Saturday, the Office of Civil Defense said that a critical inter-agency meeting was assembled to coordinate the Philippine response and deliver needed support for affected victims. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News