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Sunday, February 05, 2006
DYING FOR MONEY
MANILA - Myrna Britania, 42, spent all night Friday lining up for a game show raffle ticket that she hoped would win her some quick cash or a furnished house.
Instead, she spent most of yesterday in anguish, waiting for news of friends and relatives injured in a stampede that killed at least 74 people and injured more than 500 others.
As the gates to the show were closed, “people at the back of the line kept pushing. They did not know there were already people dead, lying on the ground in front,” Britania said.
President Arroyo ordered a rapid investigation into yesterday morning’s stampede at Philsports Arena, where about 30,000 people had lined up to watch the show “Wowowee.”
Vicente Eusebio, the mayor of Pasig, said the melee erupted as the crowd pushed and surged toward the gates, thinking they were open, trampling those in front.
72 hours
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said 74 people were killed, including a person who died of massive bleeding more than 12 hoursafter the stampede.
At least 514 were injured. Most of the injured had been sent home, but more than a dozen remained hospitalized with serious injuries such as fractures, severe cuts and shock.
Arroyo ordered authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and submit a report to her in 72 hours.
A government investigative body summoned the host of the show, comedian Willie Revillame, and organizer ABS-CBN for an interview today.
Entry to “Wowowee” is free, but for yesterday’s first anniversary show, only the first 300 were eligible to play games in which they might win up to P1 million in cash or a furnished house.
Sen. Richard Gordon, National Red Cross chief, said the death toll had been revised down from 88, after officials discovered that some of the fatalities had been counted twice.
Closed
“We were hoping to get a chance to win money,” said housewife Esperanza Marasigan, desperately searching for her relatives in the mayhem. “We never thought this would turn out to be a nightmare.”
An official from ABS-CBN told a press conference late yesterday that security staff had shut the gate to the stadium just before the stampede.
Rene Luspo, assistant vice president for security at the network, said the decision was made as people began pushing and shoving to get to the head of the queue to be ushered into the stadium.
“This (was) when Ultra security, together with ABS-CBN’s own security, decided to close the gate because the people were becoming agitated and because the people from behind, not the people in front, kept on pushing and shoving the people in front of them,” Luspo said.
“Eventually this gate gave way. That’s when the people right in front of the crowd stumbled, and then they piled up.”
Luspo said 215 policemen, along with station and stadium security guards, were mobilized to handle the people who had begun lining up as early as Thursday for the 17,000 available seats.
Investigation
Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the National Telecommunications Commission is looking into the possible culpability of the program’s organizers.
ABS-CBN officials said they will cooperate with the investigation.
Network chairman Eugenio Lopez also said: “We want to assure the public that ABS-CBN will stand behind any costs that have been incurred by the victims.”
President Arroyo comforted the injured at area hospitals, where emergency rooms were overwhelmed with victims, with some forced to await treatment on plastic chairs or even on the floor.
Bodies were brought out of the stadium and placed on a litter-filled street, covered with plastic bags or newspapers. Some relatives stroked the faces of their dead loved ones, mourning and in shock after the melee.
Pasig Deputy Police Chief Romeo Abaring said the crowd had surged towards the entrance to the stadium, a narrow passageway where most of the dead—mainly middle-aged and elderly women—were found.
Even after the stampede, hundreds of people remained in the area—some curious bystanders, others wandering around in confusion and many more still lining up, still hoping to attend the airing of the show.
Horror
Around 40 percent of the people in the Philippines live on less than P100 a day, and game shows like “Wowowee” that offer substantial prizes have a huge following.
Revillame and Vice President Noli de Castro later appeared before thousands of people inside the stadium to tell them the show would be postponed and to appeal for understanding.
“It’s too early for fingerpointing. Nobody wanted the incident to happen,” said de Castro, who rose to fame as a newscaster and television show host on ABS-CBN.
“We only wanted to make these people happy and to help the poor,” Revillame said, breaking down during an interview aired by the station.
For most of the morning, bodies were lined up on the side of a street outside the stadium for identification.
Bags and shoes lay scattered outside the hall. They were later moved to two hospital morgues, where officials plastered digital photographs of unidentified bodies on windows.
Hospitals were overwhelmed with the scores of injured and were using parking lots to accommodate them. The Rizal Medical Center alone had treated more than 300 people, said Senator Gordon.
Poor planning
Gordon blamed poor organization of the event for the tragedy.
“If you predict that there’s going to be a huge crowd, you should be ready with ambulances and communications,” he said. “You should plan for the worst. We have a lot of people who wanted to help but could not get in immediately.”
President Arroyo consoled the injured during a visit to the medical center, putting her hands on the shoulders of Leny Subayco, who was waiting for an X-ray of her injured leg.
Subayco said she lost consciousness after being trampled underfoot and woke up later under a pile of people.
“Under me was a dead person, beside me there was another dead and there was another dead above me,” she said.
ABS-CBN announced that the show had been postponed indefinitely.
“We are truly saddened by this incident. Nobody wanted this,” said executive vice president for entertainment, Charo Santos-Concio. She said the network “will ensure that we will give all needed help and support to the wounded.” (AP, AFP & Sunnex)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 5, 2006 issue)
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