Maritess Santillan, 27, from Malasiqui town, and her cousin who would have been her maid of honor, Judy Hazel Santillan Fernandez, 26, from Dagupan City, were among those who died in last week’s attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York.
The cousins were employed by the Cantor Fitzgerald Bonding Company, which occupied the 101st, 103rd to 105th floors of the WTC. They were in their office when a plane hijacked by terrorists crashed into the 96th to 103rd floors.
Their deaths were confirmed by Fernandez’s father Cirilo to his brother, Rudy Fernandez, who works as an executive assistant of Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim.
Rudy Fernandez told The STAR that he called up his elder brother Cirilo in New Jersey to confirm the report about his niece’s death.
Cirilo told him he had gone around all the hospitals and clinics where survivors were taken but the cousins were nowhere to be found.
"Maybe they are now ashes," Rudy quoted his brother as saying. The family was in indescribable pain now, he added.
Maritess, who was wearing an engagement ring, was to be married to her boyfriend in May 2002. Judy Hazel would have been her maid of honor.
In the Internet list of employees working at the said building, Maritess was described as having a tattoo on her pelvic area while Judy Hazel was wearing a Gucci watch and had a tattoo on her lower back.
In an interview with The STAR, Malasiqui Mayor Alfonso Soriano said that the Santillans are indeed from Malasiqui but they had migrated to the United States. Maritess’ grandfather was the late former Regional Trial Court Judge Victor Santillan while her father is Expedito, an engineer.
Rudy described Judy Hazel as skinny and last saw her when she was still a teenager. They lived in Rizal Extension, Dagupan City, until they decided to migrate to the States.