I was privileged to join the National Press Club (NPC) led by President Benny Antiporda on its second trip to Leyte for an outreach mission, spending four days in Tacloban from December 27 to December 30. The mission of the first group of NPC members that went to Leyte on November 21st was to provide immediate relief by serving soup to the typhoon survivors through a mobile kitchen, in tandem with the “Because We Can” group. The first group included media men Eric Garafil and Bobot Frandejas.
It was during NPC’s second trip that I met Eric and Bobot whose stories of the devastation were no different from mine as I learned they were in Tacloban the first time that I also was, although a media friend and I were privileged to be invited to stay in better accommodations aboard the Philippine Navy ship BRP Bacolod commanded by Navy Commander Jonathan V. Zata.
Some of the extremely dedicated men of the National Press Club include Director Paul Gutierrez (left), Eric Garafil (2nd from left), President Benny Antiporda (in hard hat), and Director Boying Abasola.
While I have been several times to the typhoon-devastated province of Leyte and to Guiuan, Eastern Samar after Supertyphoon Yolanda struck, it was only on my fourth and latest trip to Tacloban City, in particular, that I was going there as a “volunteer” and not primarily as a media person. It was also only then that I realized how difficult it was to go to the place with a group of “volunteers” for relief operations, practically fending for ourselves in a place where resources and basic commodities were still scant.
National Press Club President Benny Antiporda supervises and personally helps in the construction of houses for media men in Tanauan, Leyte.
Usually seen as a risk-taker and as “one of the boys” by friends who express their concern and at times esteem when they see photos of me in what they consider as extremely dangerous areas in the country where they think only courageous men dare to trod, only a few people know that I actually do not have much trouble going to and moving around these places because almost every little thing is being taken care of by my hosts—accommodation, food, transportation and security. All I have to do is jump into particular vehicles assigned to me and join the convoy of military officials as they go from one military camp to another and to other itineraries with ease.
After paying a courtesy visit to Tacloban City Administrator Tecson John Lim the day we arrived Tacloban on December 27, the NPC group immediately set up tent at the city hall grounds. I could only shake my head in amazement at the speed by which the men did this (I was the only female NPC member; the other female in the group was Carol Claudio, Antiporda’s executive assistant). Benny Antiporda, who all along I thought was a pampered city boy, took his sweat-drenched shirt off and with the men proceeded to set up the tent provided by Pasay Lions Club of which he is also president, this under the scorching heat of the afternoon sun.
Burnt as I was from my travels in other typhoon-devastated areas, I could only watch from afar as I hid under the shade of a previously set up tent. I also witnessed President Antiporda take charge and patiently start one of the generators that the group brought along after it conked out in the hands of the others who desperately tried to make it start but failed.
Life was not as difficult in Tacloban with the NPC group as I initially thought, because as one of the only two females in the group, so shameless of me to admit it, I was a little pampered not by attention but incidentally by the initiative of the most domesticated and hardworking men I have encountered in my entire life–the trio of NPC Director Boying Abasola, Eric Garafil and Bobot Frandejas. I swear I have never seen men as domestically hardworking and dedicated to the group as them who took charge of preparing and cooking food and looking after the group’s other needs. Theirs was initiative at its best.
I also saw how highly President Antiporda, NPC Directors Paul Gutierrez, Boying Abasola and Nats Taboy were regarded in esteem by the members of the group, and how the former took the reins and led us with an assiduousness that was even more than what is typical of military commanders. I remember one time when he had to take the wheel of a rented vehicle and he ordered us to “move,” and I and some NPC members had to catch up and leap into the already moving vehicle. If in the company of the hyperactive NPC President, one should not be a laggard and should be able to move and act in a moment’s notice.
Aside from the fact that the NPC was able to construct several houses for media men in the four days that the group stayed there, and has donated twenty units of generators, a number of tents, and relief goods, there are still so many stories to tell about the NPC’s Leyte experience. But for now I am just especially grateful for having the honor and privilege of meeting some of the most hardworking, selfless and dedicated men I have ever seen in my entire life. With men like this in society, there is great hope not only for Philippine media but for the entire country as well.
On behalf of the men and women of the National Press Club, I would like to greet Director Boying Abasola a very happy birthday today as I write my column, January 12, 2014.
I take my hat off to you, Sir Boying, in respect and admiration! Mabuhay ka po!
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