Filipina saves young wards from fire, gets $25,000. gift



By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:12pm (Mla time) 02/27/2007


MANILA, Philippines -- A Filipina saved her employers' four children and their two friends from a house fire in Stowe, Vermont and received $25,000 as gift for the act, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced Tuesday.
In her report to the home office, Consul General Cecilia Rebong of the
Philippine Consulate General in New York identified the Filipina as Hazel Reposo of Negros province.
The consulate learned about the incident when Reposo, together with her employers, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Wood and their children, went to the consulate to acquire a new Philippine passport, having lost the old one, together with her other belongings, in the fire, said Rebong.
Reposo recalled that one of the children told her of the fire coming out of the garage door of the 4,500-square-foot luxury home that was made of wood, said Rebong.
“The fire alarm went off, and I immediately ordered the children to abandon the house. I called up 911 on my mobile phone and then my employers,” she narrated before the consulate.
The Woods acknowledged her heroism and her quick thinking, saying they would be “forever grateful” to her. “The $25,000 was not a reward but was meant for the education of Hazel’s son. She took care of our most precious possession -- our children,” they said.
Rebong also reported that Reposo, 30, had worked as a nanny since November 2003. Though a Business Management graduate of the University of Negros Occidental-Recolectos, Reposo left the country for her five-year-old son’s sake to work in Bermuda together with her parents and two siblings.
Reposo’s heroism was published in an article entitled “$25,000 reward for Filipina nanny who saved 6 kids,” in the February 23-March 1, 2007 issue of the Filipino Reporter, a New York-based newspaper.
(One dollar = 48.25 pesos)


Saludo ako