Hero's welcome for boy who saved family in Antique
Boy hero Rodney Berdin (second from right) with his
family basks in fame for his heroic feat.
Thirteen-year-old Rodney Berdin returned to a hero's welcome in his hometown in Belison, Antique on Tuesday after he was lauded by President Macapagal-Arroyo during her State of the Nation Address for saving his family at the height of typhoon "Frank" last month.
Hundreds of students, teachers, municipal employees of Belison, around 20 km north of the capital town of San Jose, lined up the streets at the poblacion to meet Rodney's family after they arrived from Manila and Iloilo, according to municipal social welfare officer Josephine Ann Dagay-loan.
Officials honored Rodney in a special program led by Mayor Vicente Piccio Jr. at the public plaza.
Rodney received the loudest applause from the country's highest officials during the SONA, next only to the President's announcement that charges for text messaging has been cut by half.
He was cited for his courage in braving rampaging flood waters and saving his mother Maria, 40, brother July, 7, and sister Jonna Mae, 3, after their house was swept by the flood early morning of June 21.
"I was not afraid for myself because I believed that I could handle the water. But I was scared because July was separated from us," he said in an interview on Tuesday after his family arrived from Manila.
He was outside their hut at around 7 a.m. in Barangay Rumbang, around 50 meters from the Sibalom River, when he heard a rushing sound moments before their house was swept away.
Rodney rushed to help July who was injured after a post of their house fell on his brother's foot. He helped him climbed a stump of a camachile tree but found out that his mother who was cradling her sister was already a few meters away being carried by the flood.
He left July and swam towards his mother and sister by was also carried by the water. They later held on a driftwood and struggled to stay afloat.
For more than two hours they held to the piece of wood. Rodney repeatedly helped his mother to calm down because she was struggling to stay afloat while holding on to Jonna Mae. He decided to take off his shirt and short pants so that his mother could not grab him.
"Stay calm. Don't move so much," he repeatedly told his mother.
Maria said she was crying because she was afraid that she would lose grip of her daughter. She was also worried about July.
They later were able to climb to another camachile where they stayed for around seven hours until the water subsided.
Rodney's uncle Rodrigo came for them around 4 p.m. He also fetched July who was still on the stump of the tree where Rodney left him.
The family arrived around 6 p.m. at the village elementary school which has been converted to an evacuation center. They stayed there for around a week.
Maria said she is happy and proud of her son for saving them and for being honored as a model for other children.
"He is a good son and I never had problems with him," said Maria.
Estranged from her husband, Maria has been struggling to feed her family by accepting laundry jobs and from her fees cutting bamboo and other trees.
Rodney was forced to stop going to school after five months in Grade I to help his mother's work.
Offers have come for Rodney because of his feat.
Dagay-loan said the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office has offered a scholarship for Rodney. The local government is also plans to provide an alternative livelihood for his mother.
The family will also be a beneficiary of the Core Shelter Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and will be given a new house.
Maria welcomed the opportunity for her son and family.
"I would want him to go back to school and get a college degree so he would have a better future," she said.
Rodney too said he wants to go back to school and hopefully become a policeman someday.
"I want to help others," he said.