DUMAGUETE CITY–For the Rev. Elmer Fundador water must be his Achilles’ heel. In July 11, 1987, Fundador almost perished when the ML St. Christopher, a passenger boat filled beyond its capacity of 90 passengers, sank as it was sailing from Dumaguete to Siquijor. Some 100 passengers survived. 150 others were not as lucky.
Fundador, then a young pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) reporting to his first church assignment, said he was “99 percent sure of dying” then. He floated at sea for over 12 hours along with other survivors of the locality’s worst sea tragedy until rescuers found him the following day.
That incident seemed forgotten like a closed chapter in Fundador’s life until he again met his nemesis 24 years later–last Saturday, December 17.
Fundador and his family had barely finished breakfast in their rented house in Barangay 8 near the Banica River in Dumaguete City when they heard a strange sound, which drowned out the buzzing sound of a chain saw nearby. It was getting louder and louder while the screams of their neighbors also appeared to be getting closer and closer.
Suddenly, they found water at their doorstep, after less than one hour of rain. Surprised, Fundador soon noticed water entering their house. With the help of his son, he mustered strength to bring their refrigerator to the second floor of their house. He also told his wife, son and daughter to remain upstairs. When he went back to get more items, he found the water neck-deep.
“It was so sudden. It was very shocking,” he recalled as he saw his TV set floating among the other appliances. He picked up what he could and brought them back upstairs.
Seeing no way of escaping from the rising floodwaters through the door, they broke their jalousie window on the second floor and squeezed themselves through it.
After the water subsided four hours later, Fundador and his family found everything covered in mud. Shoes, clothes, and even their motorcycle was caked in knee deep mud.
“I had to shovel for several hours just to find a way for us to pass,” he said.
Relief operations provided them with food for the next three days. “It would take a long time for us to get our lives back again,” he said, as patches of mud still remain on the floor and walls.
Reflecting on these two near-death experiences, Fundador said God is so good that he again gave him another chance to enjoy life. “If it happened at nighttime, I don’t know if we would still be alive today. I consider this my third life.”