LRT blast victims cry for help

They had planned their yearend visit to Manila to be a rare treat in the Big City. Instead, the Umali family of Laurel, Batangas found themselves celebrating New Year’s Eve in the charity ward of a Manila hospital, their holiday turning into a nightmare.

For Paulino, 36, and his wife Annabelle, 35, and their children Ann Pauline, 4, Mary Ann Joy, 3 and R-Jay, 2, were among the scores wounded by the bomb explosions that ripped through Metro Manila on Rizal Day. They are grateful that despite their injuries, they made it out of the burning Light Railway Transit coach alive.

Meanwhile, donations for Operation Damayan’s fund drive for the victims of the Rizal Day bombings continue to pour in, with The STAR group of companies boosting the fund with a P150,000 cash donation. This brings to P304,700 the total donations to the fund campaign, which was launched last Jan. 4 and which will end this Saturday, Jan. 13.

Twenty two people died from the bomb explosions, which also wounded close to 100 others.

Yesterday’s other donors include TGFHA-LV, P15,000; the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers, Polomok chapter, P15,000; Angela and Paolo Jacinto, P10,000; and Oscar and Lirio Dizon and children.

Paulino and Annabelle cannot wait to return to their home in Bugaan West, Laurel. A farmer, Paulino harvests coconuts to augment his meager income. Rural life has been a blessing to his family, he says.

But with his injured leg and his wife’s fractured leg, Paulino is worried about the future.

"At this point, I just lift to God all that has happened to me and my family and the other victims," Paulino said.

Paulino recalled that he and his family had gone straight to the LRT station on Buendia Avenue in Makati City after the two-hour bus ride from Batangas. They were headed for the Monumento station, where they would have taken another ride to his brother-in-law’s residence in Valenzuela City.

As their coach approached the Blumentritt station, a strong explosion rocked the train. He said it was a good thing the coach’s doors slid open, and they were able to escape the flames from the explosion.

In the meantime, as his children learn to adjust to their temporary quarters in the hospital, Paulino and Annabelle are waiting for the day their wounds will be sufficiently healed. Doctors say this will take at least another two weeks.

And hopefully, after that, they can get on with their interrupted lives.

(Those who wish to help the Umalis and the bombings’ other victims may call Damayan coordinator Melita Dioso at tel. no. 527-7901.)