‘FUELED BY PASSION’: Red Cross volunteer kept calm, steadfast amid tragedy

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

AN ON-CALL volunteer of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC)-Iloilo Chapter thought of breaking down but chose to hold back her emotions as she responded to some of the survivors of the tragic sea accidents in Iloilo Strait last Aug 3, 2019.

“Emotionally draining but we need to do what needs to be done kay kun maluya man kami nga volunteers, diin na lang sila makapit,” Iana Frances Gatpatan shared in an interview with Daily Guardian on Monday.

In her nine years of volunteer work under the PRC’s Health and International Humanitarian Law, Gatpatan thought she already witnessed the worst.

“Actually, naka-witness na ko but not as tragic as this,” she said.

The 21-year-old was among the many volunteers who first consoled the traumatized survivors of the tragic sea accidents.

Gatpatan said they were not part of the rescue team that was initially assigned to provide psycho-social support to the survivors.

“We were supposed to have an orientation for an upcoming event of the PRC but then we were immediately called following the incident that happened,” she said.

One of the survivors, a boy, was assigned to her.

“It just happened that the first survivor nga ginhatag sa akon was this child. He told me the whole story and a very detailed one in fact. He remembers everything quite perfectly. Together with him is his grandfather who went to the scene and found his ‘apo‘ all alone while the rescuers continued to search for the other six people who were with the boy when they sailed to Guimaras,” she said.

At that time, Gatpatan said all she could do was listen and show empathy to the child and his grandfather.

“Ginhatag ko was not psycho-social support, nagpakalma na lang ko sang bata as a human na lang, nga you have to show empathy on how to calm him down so ginistorya ko siya para indi magtapik sa iya utok ang trauma,” she furthered.

Witnessing how the relatives informed the young child of the other casualties in their family broke Gatpatan’s heart.

“Na-expect mo naman ang mga bug-at nga stories once you went to the scene but once nagsulod na ang folks kag nabal-an sang bata kun sin-o ang wala, nag-break down gid ang family. And so didto, as a volunteer, dira sa tubang nila, mabatian mo kun ano pag-deliver sang news, kun ano ang initial reaction sang bata kag lolo. It broke my heart when their folks arrived and informed them of their losses. They lost family members today, some still missing,” she said.

It was one of the most painful sights that Gatpatan witnessed in her life. At that time, she said that she was also on the verge of breaking down as a human being.

“I was concerned with how the boy will recover. He remembers everything and for sure, he will remember it when he gets old,” she lamented.

But instead of breaking down, Gatpatan clung to her passion and commitment and chose to be strong for the survivors.

“So kun luya na siya gani tapos ikaw maluya ka man, paano ka kahatag support if ikaw mismo wala ka strength bala nga kulang sa iya subong. I cannot deny it is traumatic on my part but it’s the commitment that I made and it’s the purpose of my life,” she said.

Even without any compensation for her volunteer work, Gatpatan said she is now more inspired and eager to continue her passion, especially after the incident.

“Subong very eager na gid kami to learn more and improve our skills para mag-abot liwat ang disasters nga wala ta ginapangayo, maka-respond kita properly and maka-help kita sa mga gakinahanglan. Although I cannot deny it is traumatic on my part but it’s the commitment that I made,” she noted.

No matter how emotionally draining her experience was, Gatpatan said she will never trade her job for anything else.

“This is the path I chose. No matter how painful this job gets, I will never trade it for anything else.

I believe that each one of us has a gift and I believe this is my gift,” she shared.

The child was among the 52 out of the 83 passengers who managed to survive from the two capsizing incidents on Saturday afternoon.

A total of 28 passengers died while three others are still missing as of Aug 6, 2019, according to a report from the Joint Incident Command Post.

Gatpatan is currently teaching in Colegio del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus and at the same time finishing her Masters of Public Administration at the Central Philippine University (CPU).

In between all of these, she is also an on-call volunteer for the PRC.

She was among the many volunteers from government agencies, civic society groups, non-government agencies (NGOs), including the media, who immediately responded to the tragic sea accident in the Iloilo strait.