People who work as frontliners in various fields can be extraordinary. They have the courage to confront their fears and the grit to face an unknown enemy. Amid the insidious threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), they remain steadfast in their efforts to help the rest of us ease into a different kind of life under the new normal.
They have families of their own whom they had to leave behind to assist other people whose needs are more immediate. Some of them are dads, like PLDT’s Rudsen Vicente and Rabbi Pinlac whose children wait long hours for them to return home. But deep in their young minds, they are confident that their dad will be home soon. To play toy cars with them, crack jokes with the family and reassure them that the pandemic will pass.
Rudsen Vicente
Frontliner Rudsen Vicente on the PLDT hotlines during the ECQ and MECQ.
Devoted Dad to seven-year-old Wayne Gabriel and three-month-old Ariana Louisse, Rudsen is an incident & after sales support associate at the PLDT Enterprise group. When the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was declared on March 17, he remained inside the office to handle subscribers’ calls on the PLDT Hotline and assisted field support personnel on telephone and DSL configurations.
He was one of the frontliners recognized by PLDT Chairman Manuel V Pangilinan in his speech during the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting conducted online: “I thank Rudsen Vicente, who manned our hotline services at PLDT’s Sampaloc Exchange. His wife had just given birth before the quarantine was imposed. After spending only a few delightful days with his newborn baby, Rudsen volunteered for prolonged lockdown duty in Sampaloc,” Pangilinan said.
During his office quarantine, he missed Baby Ariana the most. “I felt sad when I left home in March but it was a call of duty which I heeded. I was also sure that my wife will take very good care of our baby as well as our son,” Rudsen related.
When off-duty, he kept in touch with his family through video calls, to see how they were doing, what his little boy was up to, and watched the baby attempting her first smile.
Rudsen returned home on June 6, after working under lockdown in the office for 86 days. “I was so happy (still am) to see my wife, my son and my little baby girl,” said the 40-year-old Dad.
Rabbi Pinlac
Frontliner Rabbi Pinlac in PPE gear is shown with a subscriber.
Assigned to work in the Manila area during the ECQ until the current general community quarantine (GCQ), Rabbi Pinlac, CX service delivery associate, has been making the rounds in Malate, Ermita, and Roxas Boulevard, accomplishing eight to 14 installations/repairs per day.
Rabbi takes extra precaution as he completes his assignments, following the prescribed health protocols strictly. “Sa panahon ngayon na may COVID-19, medyo natatakot tayo, kaya doble ingat,” he advised.
Attired in personal protective equipment (PPE) gear, he visits subscribers’ homes and offices to either install or repair PLDT lines. He recalled an experience when he had to wait for a long time, standing outside a house under the scorching heat of the sun while wearing complete PPE which drenched him in sweat.
This resolute frontliner goes home everyday where his wife, daughter Ayira Ravyin, 15, and Baby Rabbi 2 eagerly await him.
To keep his family safe from the virus, he leaves his clothes and PPE in the garage and, in his underwear, goes straight to the comfort room to take a bath.
Before the pandemic, this caring dad regularly takes his family out for dinner and strolls around the malls. Now, they just stay inside the house, ordering food delivery online whenever they miss eating in a restaurant.
His family dotes on Rabbi 2, the 22-months toddler who loves playing with toy cars and watching nursery rhymes on YouTube with his dad.
Baby Rabbi wants to tag along Dad Rabbi to work every morning, but he can’t. He had to stay home with Mom and big sister Ayira while his namesake goes out to the frontlines to help people get the most reliable connectivity to their family, friends and communities, so they can learn to live comfortably under unfamiliar conditions of the world’s new normal.
