Ijayson Inquig, a senior network engineer at Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), was looking forward to spending Christmas and his birthday with his family in Puerto Princesa City until super typhoon Odette threw a wrench in his plans in the middle of December.
But Inquig will never forget the day when residents of Dumaran town’s Barangay Santa Teresita were reunited with the rest of the country after the community was cut off by super typhoon Odette eleven days earlier. It was also his birthday on that day.
Inquig stayed in Roxas, 130 kilometers north of the provincial capital, to monitor communication points in the municipality, as well as those in the towns of San Vicente, Dumaran, and Araceli, when Odette hammered the province on December 17.
“The wind was incredibly tremendous,” Inquig remarked of the worst typhoon he has ever seen in the province. The entire structure was shaking. By 8 p.m., I was worried that the ceiling would collapse.” As Odette destroyed power lines and communication networks, much of Palawan was shut off from the rest of the country.
The following morning, Inquig set out to survey the damage. He was planning to go to Sta. Monica in Puerto Princesa to upload software that could potentially restore communication services in the area.
“Devastation was everywhere. The roads were flooded and debris was all over,” described Inquig. He only reached Barangay Tinitian because Langogan bridge was heavily damaged and no vehicle could get through.
With no way to get to Puerto Princesa, Inquig decided to investigate fiber lines that ran from Langogan to Roxas for about 60 kilometers and transmitted his findings to PLDT technicians stationed in Taytay, a town about 70 kilometers north of Roxas.
Inquig then placed a high priority on repairing Smart’s relay station in Langogan, as rebuilding this backbone would greatly boost the province’s wireless services. When the site was up and running, Inquig turned his attention to the Dumaran municipality, which includes villages on an island that it shares with Araceli.
Inquig hiked up to the relay station in Barangay Santa Teresita the day after Christmas with the company’s emergency response team to inspect the damage. They’d have to wait another day and a hike back to the site before they could get started on the repairs. Despite the fact that they were able to reconnect to Dumaran Island, they had to wait another day for the technical team from Puerto Princesa to arrive at the Barangay Ilian relay station and align the equipment with the one in Santa Teresita before they could reconnect to the island. Dumaran was eventually connected to the rest of Palawan when a communication link was established between these two sites on December 28.
“My family was texting me on the eve of my birthday asking me if I could come home. But I told them, I couldn’t,” recalled Inquig. “With Smart being the sole mobile services provider in Santa Teresita, reconnecting residents in the area was more important. I’m sure their relatives had been anxious to hear from them.”
Inquig may have missed celebrating his birthday with his family but he said that his latest birthday is, perhaps, the most special one just yet.
“People were really grateful when we reestablished the link in Barangay Santa Teresita. They were very happy that they could finally call their loved ones. It was indeed a very special birthday gift,” he said.
Not just in Palawan, but also in Visayas and Mindanao, Inquig and the rest of PLDT and Smart’s frontline network technical staff have been working relentlessly to restore services in other badly affected areas.
By championing initiatives that promote a culture of preparedness, provide an immediate response through network resilience, continuous availability of communication services, and relief assistance to communities affected by disasters, and aid in recovery, PLDT and Smart aim to create a #SafeandSmart Philippines.
