community news and views
2 filipino globe December 2009
thecity
A
PEOPLE Muelmar Magallanes and Efren Penaflorida changed people’s lives in very different ways
st
Nueva Ecija
More than 6,000
A moving tale of two heroes
volunteers have signed
dige
up with a community
policing system in line
with the government’s
initiative to maintain
peace and order in the
Until this month, Muelmar
Magallanes had been known only
home
province.
Police senior
to a few people who had witnessed
Superintendent Ricardo
his extraordinary courage and
Marquez, director of
heroism and several others who
the Nueva Ecija police
had read about it.
provincial office, said
But when Time magazine the volunteer group will
enshrined the construction worker serve as back force for
in its hallowed ranks of heroes, the police.
the world came to know about a
The volunteers will
young man who changed the lives
nor carry arms, Marquez
of dozens of people – and lost his
said.
own.
Magallanes was a hero in Agusan
the Philippines’ worst floods in
40 years, more so to Menchie The Philippine Drug
Penalosa, the last person to see him Enforcement Agency
alive before he was swept away by
said a notorious pusher
the raging waters, too tired to save
died in a shootout with
his life.
narcotics agents in
He had just helped Penalosa
Agusan del Norte.
and her infant child get on a raft,
PDEA said a
the last of 30 or so people he had
local drug syndicate,
saved that day.
known as Manap drug
“He gave up his life for me and
group that operated in
Cabadbaran City was
my baby,” Penalosa said. I will
never forget him.”
Magallanes’ body was found
several miles away, along with
Maria Luz Magallanes, Muelmar’s
28 others who had perished in the
mother, grieves at his coffin, Inset:
disaster.
Muelmar at the height of his youth.
Survivors and neighbors
gathered around Magallanes’ As flood waters rushed through and exhaustion, he lay down on the
coffin as he lay in a makeshift hut, the village, Magallanes tied a rope soggy ground to try to regain his
consoling his family and each other around his waist and attached it to strength until he heard Penalosa’s
believed neutralised in
and recalling the man’s ultimate panicked people, helping them to cry for help as she and her baby
a buy-bust operation in
sacrifice. safety. were being carried away by the
Barangay Matabao.
The day the waters started After saving the last family torrent.
The gang leader
surging after endless rains, member, he went back to help “I knew we were going to die,”
was killed during the
Magallanes brought his family to neighbors trapped on rooftops. But Penalosa said later. “Then this man
operation, PDEA said,
higher ground. He kept coming
quoting field reports.
with each trip across the torrent he came from nowhere and grabbed
back to rescue other family became weaker. us. He took us to where the other
members, then his neighbors and Finally, believing he had saved neighbours were and then he was
General Santos
everyone else that needed help. everyone and shivering with cold gone.”
At least 13 business
groups in Mindanao
have agreed to promote
We’ve learned not to give up because of the people who believe in us
the development of
additional energy
sources in a bid to help
CNN Hero of the Year Efren helped him get on the road with his for his project and spend the rest to
stabilize the island’s
Penaflorida brought his message mobile-class concept, and Emmanuel get more wheels on his mobile class.
power supply.
of hope to Hong Kong, telling his Baluag, a volunteer. He said he would be happy to see
Vicente Lao,
compatriots not to despair in the face Through his Dynamic Teen others replicate his concept across
chairman of the
of adversity and to pull each other up, Company, mostly composed of the country.
Mindanao Business
not down. volunteers, Penaflorida has been Still, he was quick to play down
Council, said his
Penaflorida made a litghtning helping street children catch up with his role in the success of the project,
group and 12 other
visit to Hong Kong two weeks after education by bringing it to them. He saying “there are a lot of volunteers
organizations have
receiving the accolade from the global started in his neighborhood in Cavite who are the real heroes behind this”.
established an alliance
news network for his pioneering and expanded to other areas where These are young men and women
for that purpose.
work with street children through his underprivileged children were most in who stuck with Penaflorida through
pushcart classroom. need of a helping hand. good times and bad. “We’ve learned
He was accompanied to Hong With his US$100,000 prize, he not to give up because of the people
Efren Penaflorida
Bataan
Kong by Bong Manalaysay, who hopes to build a permanent home who believe in us,” he said.
... message of hope.
The industrial park of
the Philippine National
Oil Company-Alternative
Fuels Corporation in the
Sarado muna ang puso ni Heart
Dolphy-Zsa Zsa wedding hopeless Jinkee: Pinatawad ko na si Krista
Limay-Mariveles area
has become the first
Mas prayoridad niya Hindi na ambisyon Hindi ka maka-move
government-owned and
ang trabaho at yan ng comedy king on kung hindi ka
controlled corporation
ay desisyon niya, na makasal pa sila magpapatawad, sabi
in the country to be
awarded with ISO
hindi ng kanyang
25
matapos ang 20
26
pa ng misis ni
9001:2008 certification,
magulang taong pagsasama Manny Pacquiao
25
the seal of quality
approval.
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