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Thursday, March 04, 2004
2 survivors look back on fateful day
THURSDAY marks the first anniversary of the Davao International Airport bombing incident, which killed 22 people and injured 113 others, but the tragic incident has remained vivid in the minds of two of the survivors.
Danilo Alquirez, 46, a taxi driver, can still clearly remember the incident at the airport, which brought great changes in their family.
"I had a regular passenger arriving on board the Cebu Pacific. I was parked far away but when the airplane landed I walked toward the waiting shed. It was then when something exploded," Alquirez said in the dialect.
Alquirez, who is a father of four children, was the only breadwinner of the family.
He said the bombing affected his family's life since he was forced to stop driving a taxi. His eldest daughter, who was a graduating commerce student, had to stop going to school and had to train for work in Japan.
His daughter is now in Japan.
Alquirez now wears a brace on his right leg. Alquirez said that he is still undergoing regular therapy for his injured leg.
"Makalakaw-lakaw naman hinuon ko pero murag taud-taud pa siguro bago tanggalon ning brace sa akong tiil (I can now walk but I think it will take some time more before this brace is removed from my leg)," he added.
Another survivor named Dennis Abugan, 27, native of Bislig, Surigao del Sur, said that he was hospitalized for about three months because of the shrapnel that pierced his body.
He had to undergo two major operations.
"Naa pa gani'y nahibilin nga shrapnel sa akong spinal cord pero wala na lang tanggala (There's still a shrapnel left in my spinal cord that was no longer removed)," Abugan said.
Abugan said that he used to work at the Department of Education in Bislig before the bombing incident happened.
He said it has been a year since he started looking for another job because he had not gone back to Bislig ever since.
He is now staying with an aunt at Torres Street. The criminology graduate said he is waiting for a reply for a job application at the City Hall.
Abugan and Alquirez are still hoping for justice of their tragic experiences. They urge the local government to continue pursuing the culprits of the bombing incident. AAG
(March 4, 2004 issue)
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