Ondoy Hero Makes Time Magazine’s Top 10 Heroes of 2009
Muelmar Magallanes with his nephew
“[B]y the time the storm had unleashed its full fury, bringing the worst rains the region had seen in more than 40 years, Magallanes had changed the lives of dozens of family members and neighbors—and lost his own,” Time said on its website.
Magallanes, a powerful swimmer, helped evacuate his family to higher ground after a river near their house in Barangay Bagong Silangan in Quezon City overflowed.
After making sure his parents and siblings were safe, Magallanes went back to help their neighbors who were trapped on their rooftops.
After several trips, he had managed to save 30 people, according to witnesses, including a 6-month-old girl who was about to be swept away in a Styrofoam box.
“I am going to be forever grateful to Muelmar. He gave his life for my baby. I will never forget his sacrifice,” said Menchie Peñalosa, the mother of the baby girl Magallanes saved.
Peñalosa recounted how Magallanes “came from nowhere” to grab them and take them to safety.
“And then he was gone,” Peñalosa said.
The exhausted Magallanes was simply washed away by the strong current, she said.
His body was found the following morning, with that of 28 others who also perished in the flood.
Apart from the tributes from the families he saved, Magallanes was also honored by the Philippine Senate which cited him for his “bold and selfless act.”
Aside from Magallanes, Time also cited Afghan journalist Sultan Munadi, banker Leonard Abess, activist Tan Zuoren, University of California police officers Lisa Campbell and Ally Jacobs, civilian police officers Kimberley Munley and Mark Todd, Mike Perham, Neda Agha-Soltan, ship captain Richard Phillips who escaped from Somali pirates, and pilot Capt. Chesley Sullenberger who landed his crippled jetliner safely in the Hudson River in New York City.
The list of top 10 heroes was one of the 50 lists in Time’s “Top 10 Everything of 2009,” which was aimed at “charting the highs and lows of the past year.”
