Student heroes

BENCHWARMER
Ramon S. Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- Jeepney driver Dario Bucahan will be honored at city hall’s flag-raising tomorrow for asking his passengers to step out so he could rush to the hospital critically injured victims of that bus accident last March 5 along the Marcos Highway. Sharon Canutab, a 17-year old student will also be cited by mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. and other city officials for alerting the city disaster coordinating council of the tragic incident. The teen-ager was on her way to Tubao, La Union when she saw the grisly scene. She called up her cousin, CDCC volunteer Quakelyn Canutab.

Bucahan, a 56-year old father of two, passed by the site while driving up to Baguio .He had his passengers give way to accommodate 12 of the victims. Some were later transferred to two ambulances of the CDCC and the city’s Emergency Medical Service which were rushing down at the Poyopoy area of the highway, according to rescue volunteer Bing Atienza.

The victims, all residents of Sta. Rosa, Laguna, were on their way home from a “bisita iglesia (church visit) in Baguio when their bus slammed into an acacia tree near the Tuba-Pugo boundary late in the afternoon. Twelve were killed, eight of them on site, according to Dr. Manuel Quirino, head of the emergency department of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.

Those who survived found immediate solace in Sta. Rosa mayor Arlene Arcilla Nazareno, who assured help was on the way as soon as she heard the tragedy. “Hindi kami pababayaan ni mayor,” some of the dazed and injured survivors kept repeating like a mantra, recalled former Baguio city administrator Peter Fianza, action officer of the city disaster coordinating council, after he and other rescue volunteers attended to their needs.

“Some were in shock that they could not even give their names while we were trying to list down the victims,” Fianza said. “They felt better by trying to focus on mayor Nazareno’s dispatch of help.”

Fianza said Baguio mayor Bautista was monitoring the rescue operations as head of the CDCC when he got a call from mayor Nazareno who acknowledged local efforts to save and treat the trauma victims. Mayor Nazareno sent assistant Cindy Cose to address the needs of the victims and arrange with Baguio officials and staff of the BGHMC the transport of the injured back to Sta. Rosa.

The CDCC dispatched two ambulances with a paramedic crew for two of the victims. Two others remained in the hospital as of last week, one at the intensive care unit and another at the surgical ward, according to city sports officer and CDCC worker Edison Villafuera.

BGHMC medical director, Dr. Manuel Factora and Quirino supervised the handling of the trauma victims. “The only delay in attending to the injured was their having to wait their turn at the x-ray room based on the urgency of each of the cases being handled,” Quirino said.

Those released from the hospital after treatment were housed in a hotel nearby, with mayor Bautista advancing payment. The city’s organized rescue workers led by operatives of “911” were backed up by volunteers from the neighboring towns of Tuba and Sablan in Benguet and those from La Union, especially from Pugo town.

The accident occurred a week after Fianza conducted a briefing for town officials of Benguet on the mechanics of establishing their own municipal disaster coordinating councils.“No adda pusom, makatulong ka (If you have a heart, you can help),” he said, adding that “volunteerism is a key to the strength of the CDCC”.

“That’s what Dario and Sharon both have,” he said last Friday.