A sad news grappled Team Lakay and the family of Igor Sebio Donga-el recently as they lost the 29-year old fighter to drowning.
The incident happened last December 16, 2018 in the morning at the beaches of San Fernando, La Union during the Christmas party of the group.
At around sunrise, the group’s attention was caught by three individuals, two boys and a lady, who happened to be Donga-el’s girlfriend, who are being sucked by the waters further from the shore.
The group seeks for help and residents, fishermen and surfers responded to the call. For whatever reason, Donga-el was first to the scene.
By account of teammate Pearl Alvarez, two of the three victims said Donga-el aided them to safety.
His girlfriend said she felt him carry her, make her float as she makes her way towards the shore. A similar thing was also felt by one of the boys, saying he felt Donga-el pushed his feet under water until rescuers reached him. The other was way too exhausted to even talk when all was said and done.
Unfortunately, Donga-el couldn’t completely finish this instant bout against the angry sea. He did not make it back to the shore alive.
After the three individuals were rescued, his girlfriend frantically noticed his absence and the rescuers made their way back to the sea to check him out but to no avail.
After several minutes passed, the fear was confirmed. The seas won the battle as its waves mightily tossed his lifeless body.
The people around there pull him ashore and tried to revive him but to no avail.
Donga-el wasn’t meant to win the fight this day. But what he accomplished, barreling through the waters to enable three others avoid the fate he suffered, made him the biggest winner amongst all Team Lakay fighters to date.
The post-fight ceremony of this bout should ideally put Donga-el at the skies fronting that La Union beach, raising his arms in triumph as if to taunt back at the sea, knowing, while he lost the battle, he won the war.
A lot may have noticed these but, this piece would like to reiterate and pay tribute to Donga-el’s heroic deed that was even more meaningful than how it looks:
Nobody noticed his deed even though it required laying the Ultimate Sacrifice
He totally went under the radar with what he’s done under the circumstances. It took probably the most relevant person to him available, who has more than enough trouble herself at that time, to notice he was missing in such evident incident.
John 15:13 said “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”; and Matthew 6:1 said “Do not do good things so that people will see you do them…”.
It is hard to find any deed of greater value than those that contain the combination of these two characteristics.
It may not solely because of him but his seemingly unnoticed deed have lot to do why the three who were in precarious positions will live to see another sunrise again and he won’t.
He didn’t choose who to aid
He obviously has to favor one over the other two. Two if it includes himself.
Come to think of it, he has enough reasons, like thoughts of his possible future wife and his family with her, to not to lay it all on the line.
He didn’t.
He was instrumental in the survival of all three, all who could possibly be instead the victims of undesirable circumstances.
He is Team Lakay’s ultimate winner
This is the pettiest of them all but it should still be worth mentioning.
As competitors in the field of sports, it is but natural to compare wins between fighters.
His last “bout” may also just bagged him permanent bragging rights over his Team Lakay brothers as he put one over his more illustrious mates in recording a check mark in the win column that they may never surpass in terms of difficulty level.
They may even find it hard to at least even tie him in this regard.
By: ARMANDO M. BOLISLIS
Banner photo from Igor Sebio Donga-el Facebook account
