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Philippine Showbiz Today
April 8 - 21, 2018
Jan. 22-Feb.7, 2015
Karen Davila reveals traumatic experience
with family in Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte
Journalist Karen Davila took to
social media to narrate her family’s
traumatic experience in Siargao
island last March 29.
Davila, anchor of late-night
newscast Bandila and ANC’s
Headstart, said she and husband DJ
Sta. Ana brought their sons David
and Lucas to the island that has
become famous for surfing.
They were billeted at Isla Cabana,
a resort popular for its white sand
beach front and she booked surfing
lessons for her sons. The resort
then outsourced a surfing instructor,
Junrey Taoy, who recommended a
second instructor to tend to Davila’s
other son.
“I specifically told Junrey and
Jocol (Valerio), David needed special
attention as he has challenges in
coordination - being in the autism
spectrum. David however is sporty
and trains regularly, swims quite well,
boxes and runs. Jocol said, almost
flippantly, ‘madali lang yan, kaya
yan’,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
David and Lucas then trained at
Jacking Horse, the designated surfing
area in Cloud 9 for beginners, while
Davila and her husband lounged on
the shore. She said the waves were
“strong” and the area was “crowded
with tourists - foreigners, locals,
many with families and small kids.”
About 30 minutes later, she said,
David ran back “bloodied, with his
rash guard ripped apart” and telling
her that he had “an accident.”
“I have to say, I was in a moment
of suspended disbelief,” she said,
adding that her husband attended to
David while she searched for Lucas,
who was still out training.
“I WAS SPEECHLESS. My son’s
whole chest, was bleeding from
crisscrossing abrasions with a deeper
gash under the right rib, clearly from
hitting the rocks on the shallow
waters, his chin bruised and covered
with blood, his right hand in cuts like
that from a small knife,” she wrote.
Davila said what got her “very
angry” was that David’s trainer
“suddenly
disappeared”
after
supposedly showing her husband a
store to buy antiseptic, cotton and
gauze.
“No one was there to assist
my husband or my son who was
bleeding! No nurse, no first aid, NO
ONE,” she wrote.
While the resort owners offered
to bring them to the nearest hospital,
Davila said it was a 45-minute drive
from where they were.
At the hospital, she said there
were no tetanus vaccines available
and the trainer had to take his
motorcycle to buy the medicine as
prescribed by the doctor.
“While there was a doctor and
a nurse on duty, very helpful and
attentive - there were no medicines.
Foreigners were at the ER with us
and I wondered, how do they attend
to so many foreigners visiting the
island with this set up?” she said.
Lone violator
The Department of Tourism
said the provincial government of
Surigao del Norte had issued safety
and waste management policies, but
the municipality of General Luna was
the only area that did not comply
with the directives.
“All municipalities followed the
Governor’s order EXCEPT the mayor
of General Luna,” Tourism Usec. Kat
De Castro said in statement.
De Castro said more (rescue)
teams were dispatched to “crowded
areas such as Cloud 9, Magpupungko
and the Boulevard” since the
incident.
Davila said the owners of the
resort they stayed in, Dingdong
and Mildred Pabillore, “were very
helpful.”
They also wanted surfing
instructors to be certified in Siargao
since they often outsource and
recommend instructors because
they don’t have their own.
Continued on PAGE 8 - Karen
TV news anchor Karen Davila (right) recounts the injuries sustained by her son (pictured),
who has autism, during his surfing mishap at Siargao Island over the Easter weekend