Lazaga "happy but traumatized"

CEBU, Philippines – Jed Carlo Lazaga, the law student of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJR) who was named suspect in the De La Salle University-Taft Avenue bombing last September 26, broke his silence.

Accompanied by his family, Lazaga held a media conference yesterday at the USJR School of Law conference room a day after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima announced that he is no longer among the list of suspects in the bombing.

"Kining nahitabo ako lang ni himuong inspirasyon nga ma-abogado gyud kay para malikayan nga ang nahitabo nako mahitabo sa uban," said Lazaga when asked how he coped with the accusation that he was behind the bombing that happened at the party after the bar examinations in Manila.

Lazaga said he was traumatized with what happened to him.

He recalled that he served as paralegal in Barangay Inayawan during the last barangay election along with his classmates.

A chaos occurred wherein people chased a man who was carrying a ballot box. He was left alone standing, not knowing what to do.

He narrated that after he was mauled last September 26, he was accompanied by USJR faculty members in reporting to the police. Thinking that there was nothing more to having the incident recorded, they decided to go back to Cebu.

When news broke that he was a suspect in the bombing, based on his voter's identification card seen in the place of incident, he was advised not to say anything in the public and just lie low.  Lazaga said that he and his family, as well as the university felt happy with De Lima's announcement.

Lazaga asked the Manila Police District to exhaust the investigation on the incident to identify who really was behind the bombing.

He also hopes that next time, media will be more responsible enough before airing any news by first getting both sides of the story before releasing it to the public.

Lazaga also hopes that what happened to him will not happen to other students, who might not be able to get the same support that he got from his school.

He thanked the USJR, his professors, his fellow students and the local Cebu media for respecting his right of privacy.

He also thanked the Supreme Court personnel and De Lima for saying that he was "off the hook." Charges were already filed against Anthony Nepomuceno, now considered the main suspect, for multiple frustrated and attempted murder before the justice department.

Nepomuceno surrendered to Vice President Jejomar Binay, the highest ranking government official from among the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity of which Nepomuceno is a member.

Lazaga said his school already contacted a psychiatrist to help him cope with the trauma. (FREEMAN)