They toiled long hours, climbing poles, splicing the tiny, hair-thin cables, inching their way under a bridge to repair the destruction brought on by Super Typhoon Odette.  For 27-year-old PLDT engineer Brian Reodique, who came face to face with the realities in Palawan, it was an experience one can only learn from the school of life.

“I was shocked,” said Brian, upon seeing the place for the first time. “It was not the Palawan I expected. Because of Typhoon Odette, Palawan is currently not the place we normally see on the Internet.”

Brian and his teammates worked on bridges where fiber optic cables were damaged by the staggering combination of wind and waves. “There were landslides in some areas and several bridges were destroyed,” he recounted.  “I remember working under one of these bridges to repair the damaged underground cables.  We had no idea on the extent of the destruction, but we managed to restore multiple connections.”

As a telecom engineer whose main duties include the repair, restoration and maintenance of all fiber optic cables and equipment, Brian finds his job fulfilling. It has been his dream job since taking his internship at the PLDT Pasay City office during his senior year in college.  

His team was assigned to repair and restore connectivity in Puerto Princesa City, the towns of San Jose, Sta. Monica, San Pedro, Irawan, and the last 80-kilometer-area from Puerto Princesa to Roxas. With malasakit (compassion) stirring their hearts, Brian and his colleagues from Manila immediately got down to helping restore the Palawan network. They restored multiple connections and repaired multiple fiber optic cable cuts. 

Now, after three years and four months of living his dream job, Brian is ready to help wherever help is needed.  Given the chance, he would gladly go back to Palawan because it was a learning experience “like no other.”

Brian is part of the PLDT Emergency Restoration Team sent to Palawan to help repair and restore the network following Odette.  His teammates include telecom engineers Genzerie Gonzaga, Adrian Leandicho, and Daniel Intal.

The repair and restoration of PLDT and Smart’s network in Palawan and other typhoon-hit areas form part of the PLDT Group’s aim to help the country attain the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG), particularly promoting SDG#9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.