MANILA, Philippines — Director General Nicanor Bartolome, the PNP chief, honored on Monday Police Officer 2 Randy dela Rea of the Imus Police Station for saving 16 people, including his wife Ella and their two-year-old daughter, at Bayug Island in Iligan City, during the onslaught of tropical storm “Sendong.”

At a press conference in Camp Crame, Bartolome presented to media Dela Rea, who recounted how he single-handedly saved 16 lives, by helping them climb a mango tree as raging floods swept Bayug Island.

Dela Rea and his wife, Ella who is five months pregnant with their two-year-old daughter in tow arrived in Bayug Island on December 15 to spend the holidays with Ella’s family whom they have not visited for eight years. It began to rain the next day and within a few hours the water rose for the first time to unusual levels prompting the police officer gather all their relatives and perched all 16 persons – one of them an eighth-month pregnant relative who was complaining of stomach pains – tying them up one by one in the sturdy branches of the mango tree after the logs that raged with the rising water destroyed the second floor of the house and the roof was no longer a safe refuge.

They stayed afloat evading forest debris, dead people, and snakes from 12:30 a.m. to about 7 a.m. of December 17. When they came down the tree, their neighborhood was gone, bodies littered along with the trees and Ella said there were still bodies buried underneath the thick mud.

“Napakahirap po ng mga panahon na yun. Napakadilim. Walang kahit konting liwanag. Pakiramdam namin magugunaw na ang mundo,” said Dela Rea, adding his training and experience during disaster response operations in Cavite and other areas where he was formerly assigned helped saved 16 lives on that fateful night.

Upon learning that Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. was in Iligan city distributing relief goods, Dela Rea tried to reach the Senator to ask for help but barely missed the opportunity. Dela Rea was once a security aide of Revilla. However, upon seeing Dela Rea at the airport, the police officer recounted that Revilla bought his family a ticket for Manila.

Bartolome said the PNP will give appropriate recognition to Dela Rea and all policemen involved in the search and rescue and relief operations for the victims of “Sendong.”

Learning from the lessons from the calamity that struck Northern Mindanao and the heroic act of Dela Rea, Bartolome said further enhancement of disaster response skills of police personnel will be among the directions that will be taken by the PNP in 2012.