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Miztah - Hero dog in Benguet
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Cordillera - This is a true to life story that proves dogs are truly a
man's best friend. The saying is indeed true to a father in Tuba, Benguet,
after his dog, saved the lives of his two boys when their house was
burned.
According to the news, the young brothers Wilbur (14-year old) and Kurt
(12-year old) were alone sleeping in their 3-bedroom unit inside the Philex
mine camp in sitio Padcal when the fire broke out.
When Wilbur rose from the bed as he heard Miztah, the family’s pet dog,
making considerable noise by barking and scratching the door of their room,
he saw their house filled with a heavy smoke. It was around 11 p.m. when he
woke up his younger brother, then ran outside through the backdoor, and
found out that their house was on fire. They immediately roused their
neighbors from sleep to help them put out the fire, which was triggered by
faulty electric wires.
Philex Mining officials said safety personnel have since been conducting an
investigation into the incident.
Left alone in the eight-bedroom bungalow while the rest of the occupants
were either at work or on vacation, the two boys fended for themselves with
the help of their neighbors, who used pails and buckets of water, as they
waited for a fire truck, which managed to completely extinguish the fire by
1:10 a.m., Sunday.
“I was so nervous when I was called from my work station underground,” said
the boys’ father, Lander, 36, a first-class production miner at Padcal’s
Mine Crushing and Ore Handling Department (MCHOD). In an interview, he
added, “I was told there was a fire at our place, and I thought of my two
boys who were sleeping when I left our house. My heart beat very fast as I
was worrying about them.”
He thanked the heavens when he saw that his two children were safe, never
mind all their appliances and personal belongings that went up in smoke with
the gutted building.
“If our dog Miztah did not bark and wake us up, I just don’t know what had
happened to me and my younger brother,” Wilbur said.
Also sharing his gratefulness, Kurt said, “I am very thankful to God as He
used Miztah to save us from the fire. Now we can continue with our life
despite what has happened to our home.”
Home to Kurt is an eight-bedroom building in Sitio Padcal’s Purok Upper
Camp, a three-bedroom unit which he shares with his family, including
Wilbur, their parents, and two other siblings. Their mother, Annabelle, was
with their two siblings in Tabuk, Kalinga Province, having a vacation.
The family that stays in the other three-bedroom unit and the two project
employees occupying the two other single rooms were also on vacation.
“Nothing was saved from our house, including the belongings of our
housemates,” Lander said. “But the lives of my children are the most
important. Thanks to God and to our hero dog, Miztah.”
