The Young And Heroic Life of Muelmar Magallanes.
Muelmar Magallanes with his Nephew
Eighteen year old Muelmar "Toto" Magallanes, a construction worker, sacrificed his life during the wrath of tropical storm Ondoy to save his fellow country men. More than 30 people from being swept away by the mighty alluvion during the worst flood in Philippine history.
Lies dead in a white coffin in the public gymnasium of Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City. The people he saved were all there standing at rigid attention around his coffin, all eternally grateful to the boy who saved their lives. "I shall forever be grateful to him because he saved me and my mother from drowning " teary-eyed NIla Milan qouted, one of the people saved by this young hero. I remember it was 2 o'clock and the nearby river was rapidly reaching our neighborhood. There was no time to evacuate, it happened so fast. The water submerged our house in just minutes. I thought that we will die there. Then this boy suddenly appeared to our rescue and pulled us from the flood".
Menchie Penalosa and her baby also survived the terrible ordeal of September 26 because of Toto's heroic effort. As the waters rapidly reached her house, she quickly climbed to the roof carrying her baby. "But it all happened too fast. As soon as we reached the roof, our house collapsed and the flood swept me and my child. Thankfully Toto spotted us and saved us into the higher ground. I will always be grateful to him".
Earlier Saturday morning, with non-stop rains and raging flash flood, Toto together with his father, Mang Samuel, and older brother Joefran, decided to evacuate the whole family from their house near the river in Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City. They fastened ropes around Toto's mother Aling Maria Luz and the little siblings. Together, they waded in deepening flood as the waters reached human levels. With his family in tow and safe, Toto decided to go back to the neighborhood and rescued the people pleading for help.
The rain grew stronger by the hour, and as the flood deepened, the torrent became mightier. In a few minutes, all houses were submerged. In the afternoon, no houses can be found in the neighborhood. It was like a deluge, with people crying for help while clinging to whatever solid thing that they can hold on to. Little children and mothers were being swept by the flood*.
Though a powerful swimmer, Toto became tired and exhausted, but he kept coming back into the deepening flood to rescue people. After saving a mother and a baby girl from the raging flood, Toto came back to save more people. But suddenly a solid wall of concrete collapsed that instantly killed him. His lifeless body was swept by the raging torrent.
Toto's family didn't know what happened until the early morning hours of the following day. All night long, they were waiting for Toto to return. Aling Maria Luz: "I was really worried that something might happen to him. Although I know he was a good swimmer, yet there is something in my heart that I cannot explain. I thought that I'd never see him again".
Mang Samuel: "The flood was really very deep and I became very worried about Toto. I shouted to him to save himself, because he already saved many people. But he kept on rescuing, and of course, I couldn't really stop him from saving people, but deep inside I was very very worried".
The Magallanes family spent the whole night of stormy Saturday in the Barangay Evacuation Center, keeping vigil on Toto's return. Toto's mother Aling Maria Luz says: "We didn't sleep all night. My eyes peered into the stormy darkness trying to figure out the arrival of my son. But he never came back".
The news came the following morning. As the flood receded, the rescue team found Toto's lifeless body in a heap of debris left by the storm. His face and body had large bruises. They wrapped Toto's body in a sheet of cloth and a neighbor identified it. Afterwards, they brought the body to Toto's family. It was 10 in the morning when Mang Samuel and Aling Maria Luz heard the news.
Aling Maria Luz: "At first, the people were saying that Toto was already found. But I couldn't be sure if they found him alive or was he dead already? Then something suddenly struck me. I felt that Toto was already dead... and I then suddenly felt that all the heavens had crashed on me".
Meanwhile, all the others in the family were hoping that Toto would be alive. They disregarded the rumors that Toto was already dead. But the denial was bound to be short-lived. In a moment, the rescuers came with a heap bundle, wrapped in a sheet. It was Toto's body. Toto, the heroic boy who saved numerous lives, had sacrificed his own life. He was dead.
"I felt like I wanted to die, too." says Aling Maria Luz, weeping."He's a very good son. Always helpful and very thoughtful. Why did he have to die? I should have died, not him."
Suddenly, a woman neighbor hugged Aling Maria Luz, weeping with her. She was one of those anonymous people whom her son had saved during the nightmarish night of the disaster. Then came some more people, making a pilgrimage to their valiant hero while he lays cold and dead, wrapped in a mantle of white cloth, the heroic boy who laid down his life for his neighbors.
*More than 38 people, mostly children, drowned during the raging flood in Barangay Bagong Silangan. Muelmar saved more than thirty women and children (as well as some older men), from drowning.
That's Muelmar Magallanes. A true hero.
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