Wistful Filipinos witness flawless rescue in Chile

(Updated 8:19 a.m. Manila time) SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – With remarkable speed — and flawless execution — miner after miner climbed into a cramped cage deep beneath the Chilean earth, was hoisted through 2,000 feet of rock and saw precious sunlight Wednesday after the longest underground entrapment in history. Filipino viewers around the world witnessed live TV coverage of the flawlessly executed rescue, expressing a combination of awe, envy, and wistfulness. "It's amazing how disciplined the Chilean people were during this ordeal," wrote Al Perez on GMANews.TV's Facebook wall.

A used-electronics store employee in Manila watches the live broadcast of the rescue operations for 33 trapped miners in Copiapo, Chile on Wednesday. AP

"I hope ganun din sa Pinas," wrote a certain Di. "Yung commitment nilang isave yung mga natrap until mahanap yung kahuli huliang tao. Yung suporta galing sa mga kababayan nila at sa gubyerno. Yung modern aparato nilang ginamit." (I hope that's what we would have in the Philippines: the commitment to save every last trapped person, the support from their countrymen and government, and the modern equipment that they used.) Less than two months ago, millions around the world witnessed live coverage of a bungled rescue with a tragic outcome, the massacre of eight Hong Kong tourists in Manila. Glenex Balbin, another Filipino viewer of the Chilean rescue this morning, said, "That only shows how capable and ready they are... I hope we can gain something from them." On Twitter, ex-legislator Ruffy Biazon cautioned: "Let's not use successful Chilean mine rescue to beat ourselves on back. Let's cheer for them but not jeer at ourselves." 69 days underground As of 9 a.m. Friday in Manila, the last miner had been pulled up to safety and into the waiting arms of the Chilean president. After 69 days underground, including two weeks during which they were feared dead, the men emerged to the cheers of exuberant Chileans and before the eyes of a transfixed globe. The operation picked up speed as the day went on, but each miner was greeted with the same boisterous applause from rescuers. "Welcome to life," President Sebastian Pinera told Victor Segvia, the 15th miner out. On a day of superlatives, it seemed no overstatement. They rejoined a world intensely curious about their ordeal, and certain to offer fame and jobs. Previously unimaginable riches awaited men who had risked their lives going into the unstable gold and copper mine for about $1,600 a month. The miners made the smooth ascent inside a capsule called Phoenix — 13 feet tall, barely wider than their shoulders and painted in the white, blue and red of the Chilean flag. It had a door that stuck occasionally, and some wheels had to be replaced, but it worked exactly as planned. Beginning at midnight Tuesday, and sometimes as quickly as every 25 minutes, the pod was lowered the nearly half-mile to where 700,000 tons of rock collapsed Aug. 5 and entombed the men. Another Filipino, Merly F. Aguila, exclaimed on Facebook: "Ang galing ng teamwork nila... bravo!" — Howie Severino, AP