Back out, back out, my mind screamed. My hands simply remained glued to the gear stick. It was less than a minute after i made my last call home, where a kid was awaiting for me to complete the family on his 16th birthday. I will be there, i promise, ill find a way, even if i have to double up and get to Carmen then swing to Sagbayan, Ill be home tonight, I assured the worried wife. I was on a two-day office offered leadership seminar workshop in Ubay when the earthquake shook me to the bones. Had it happened a few minutes later, i could not imagine what the panicked kids would do from a second floor of a school building in Ubay National Science High School, on a holiday. i had to cut the workshop and get as soon to the city where i figured power could be restored as soon, and have my cellphones charged. Yes, good morning, i picked the mobile phone which has not stopped ringing from 8:12 AM. It was Radio ng Bayan. And a local radio station in Bohol. And Reuters. And GMA. And my phone battery beeped its last. An hour later, i gassed up, knowing the car, a sturdy Isuzu hilander would need all the gas it would need because it had weakened batteries and it too could die on me if i turn the engines off. I talked to a gas station attendant in Talibon, who allowed me to use a spare outlet from a generator run pump to respond to messages and calls, By four PM, i learned that i could be stranded in Loboc, the road was closed, an ugly pile of mamposteria from the church walls was strewn to a high two meters. Motorists too tell me the road further was closed, a bridge had collapsed. I had to backtrack to Carmen when i remembered a dirt road i biked a couple of years ago. I had to take the chance, my battery as at low 5% and i cant be in the middle of a forest with drained batteries. I eased the car up the road to Sevilla, crawling past boulders strewn all over the road, sometimes maneuvering out of the highway to skirt obstructions. And then it happened. Dust rose from the ground, and small rocks started falling from the cliffs. I stepped on the brakes, and just sat there, mesmerized by the strong aftershock. Back up, reverse! I could not. I was transfixed. I could not move. Lord please, not here, not where nobody could pick me. And then a sharp thud awakened me from my stupor. A piece of rock, fist sized rolled into the hood. Then i was more than awake. I have to get home. Fast. I stepped on the gas and raced home. RAC Memoirs of October 15, 2013 4:45 PM. Quinoguitan Sevilla-Baucan Balilihan Road
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 07:42:17 +0000
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