PH Embassy team searches Myanmar hospitals for missing Filipino teachers

Efforts are ongoing to locate four Filipino teachers who are still unaccounted for in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake that hit Myanmar last week.

A team from the Philippine Embassy has arrived in Mandalay and is actively reaching out to hospitals where both survivors and victims from the wreckage are being taken.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) remains hopeful that the four teachers will be found alive. The embassy believes that they were inside the Sky Villa building in Mandalay when the earthquake struck.

“We're doing everything we can," Undersecretary Ed De Vega from the DFA's Office of Migration Affairs said. "Unfortunately, [while] hope remains, the bodies that have been discovered are in such advanced decomposition that they had to be cremated immediately. We're holding onto the hope that our fellow citizens are not among them or that they are still alive.”

He added, “We can’t definitively say they are under the rubble, but we’re exploring all possibilities, including that possibility.”

Although the circumstances are dire, there is still optimism based on previous rescue missions. DFA Assistant Secretary Robert Ferrer recalled that survivors were still found weeks after the 1990 Baguio earthquake. “The encouraging news from the Pines Hotel was that two weeks later, they discovered survivors in the debris. We’re praying for a similar outcome here,” he said.

In order to streamline the search for the missing teachers, the DFA has provided the searchers with the teachers' identification information, provided by their families back in the Philippines. “Families have also shared distinguishing marks to aid our team on the ground in verifying and ensuring that all possible avenues are explored,” DFA Director Catherine Alpay said.

An emergency response team has been deployed and is setting up operations in one of the hardest-hit areas of Myanmar. While the families of the missing teachers are eager for news, the team is currently in Naypyidaw, as organized by the local government.

“The decision about where our contingent will work isn’t up to us; it’s dependent on the host government. Right now, I believe the first group has been sent to Naypyidaw,” said Senior Special Assistant Winston Dean Almeda.

The embassy's team has already interviewed at least 11 Filipinos who were rescued from the Sky Villa. “These individuals have been very helpful to our embassy team in identifying their friends,” Alpay said.

As the situation develops, plans are being made to transfer the rescued Filipinos from Mandalay to Yangon, since various structures in Mandalay, including schools, are considered unsafe. “The embassy has informed us that schools are preparing for their transfer, as the buildings in Mandalay are not secure,” Alpay confirmed.

Additionally, some Filipinos in Myanmar have expressed a wish to return home, and the Philippine Embassy in Myanmar along with the Philippine Embassy in Thailand are currently facilitating this process. — BM, GMA Integrated News