Tacloban City – Half of the members of the Presidential Party who joined President Rody Duterte in a visit to the typhoon-hit province of Biliran was marooned for a few hours in Naval town after the helicopters which were supposed to pick up the officials failed to land because of darkness.
I was in the group which later had to take a speed boat sailing in darkness from Naval to Biliran and then a two-hour ride from Biliran to Tacloban City where everybody spent the night before a scheduled early morning flight by an Air Force plane to Manila.
Actually, I was supposed to be in the first helicopter which flew out of the island with two Presidential helicopters used by the President.
But since Undersecretary Eduardo Gongonga of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) could not be accommodated, I gave up my seat and agreed to wait for the second group of helicopters.
As darkness swallowed the last rays of the sun in the sky between Biliran and Tacloban, however, I knew that the helicopters would not be able to land.
In the party were Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, Health Secretary Fernando Duque, Acting Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año, Acting Social Welfare Secretary Emmanuel Leyco, Acting Information and Technology Secretary Eliseo M. Rio, Disaster and Risk Reduction Undersecretary Ric Jalad, Undersecretary Gongona and several other directors and top military officers.
When I sensed that the helicopters would not be able to land, I informed the group that the Department of Agriculture has two speed boats and a medium sized vessel which could bring them from Naval to Biliran because the road connecting the two towns was covered with landslides.
There is a short bridge which connects Biliran to the Island of Leyte and from there it would take another two hours to reach Tacloban.
The rest of the group decided to wait for the helicopters which never came while I and Usec Gongona took a speedboat and left ahead.
Later, I was informed that the rest of the group finally took the MCS vessel to bring them to Biliran and then Tacloban where they decided to spend the night and fly out early morning today using an Air Force crew aircraft waiting for the rest of the party in the Tacloban Airport.
It was a more difficult trip for me, actually, because I was advised by Malacañang late Sunday night to join President Duterte in his trip to Biliran.
With no airline seats available for the long Davao-Manila-Tacloban route, I, Usec Gongona and Director Carlene Collado took an 8-seater Cessna plane on a 2.5-hour slow flight from Davao to Tacloban.
From there, an Air Force helicopter brought us to Naval in Biliran where we waited for the President.
President Duterte was so engrossed listening to the concerns of the local officials of Biliran that everybody forgot that it was already past 5 p.m.
This experience is not something new to me, however, as I am a veteran of Presidential engagements and incidents like this happen.
It is all part of the day’s job.
(Photos show me and Usec Gongona on board an outboard motorized speed boat which took us from Naval to Biliran and the small 8-seater Cessna plane which took us from Davao City to Tacloban City yesterday.)
More Stories
Breadfruit Grows Fast In My Dreamed Food Forest!
From The Town Of Hornbills To The City Of Fruits & Highland Springs!
After A Learning Tour,