Bombing didn’t kill pregnant victim’s spirit, sense of humor

DAVAO CITY — Neither bruises nor burns from Monday’s bombing in Jolo, Sulu could dampen the spirit of 27-year-old Thelma Kasim. If anything, it is her quirky sense of humor that keeps her going — and the fact that she is expecting another child.

"I walked out with only my panties on, (that) I wore inside-out. I lost all my clothes except for my panties and my torn shirt. I felt I outdressed a band majorette," Kasim recalled to The STAR, lightening up the mood in her hospital room last Wednesday.

The "inverted" underwear was no oversight on her part as she prepared to do her usual Monday grocery shopping that fateful day. Rather, it was a product of her belief that wearing it this way would ward off bad spirits, including "kulam," a form of Filipino witchery.

"I also let my daughter wear her panties inside-out," the mother said of her five-year-old daughter Nurfaisa who was with her at the time of the attack. "She was wearing inverted panties when the incident happened."

The bombing of a cooperative store in Jolo that left five people dead and 20 others wounded did hurt Kasim and her daughter; she joked that her superstitious belief apparently did not work.

Dazed from the blast, Kasim, who is three months’ pregnant, didn’t initially realize the ensuing chaos had left her with hardly any clothing.

"The ‘kulam’ did not have any effect on me but I did not escape the bombing. I was hit," she said, recalling that the explosion threw her several feet.

"I felt a burning sensation all over my body and I just walked on and on in the street after I got out of the debris that fell on me inside the store," said Kasim.

Nurfaisa was one of those flown by the military to this city the other day from Zamboanga City for treatment at the Mindanao Burn Center in the Davao Medical Center.

Kasim, her daughter and 32-year-old Oscar Sontellinosa Jr., another bombing victim, share the same hospital room.

Kasim suffered burns on her face, arms and other parts of her body. She could not see clearly as a result of the smoke from the explosion that has been blamed on the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.

Nurfaisa is being treated for dehydration. Despite her condition, she listens to her mother’s story and smiles faintly now and then.

Sontellinosa, a Christian, also sustained burns to his face, arms and stomach.

Dr. Mitchie Aportadera, chief of the Mindanao Burn Center, said it was good that the three victims were immediately brought in to get treatment.

Dr. James Paul Dumdum, one of the attending physicians at the burn center, said the victims will hopefully recover soon.

The fighter in her

Nurfaisa said the child in her womb brought out the fighter in her.

"I really did not know where my daughter was at that time (of the bombing) and where she was thrown to. But at the back of my mind, I said I would really fight it off. I heard voices asking for help and others offering help but I said they have to help others first," she said.

Kasim said she did not immediately realize that a bomb had exploded. She thought the building had collapsed until a responding policeman told her what had happened.

"All I thought was that the building collapsed… because it was really old already," she recalled.

"Many people were telling me to ride a tricycle (to the hospital) but I did not heed them until I saw the policeman. It was also only then that I realized that I already lost my pajamas and I only had my panty on," Kasim said.

She also lost her bag after the store supervisor told her to leave it at the baggage counter. "When I reached the counter, I did not know the bomb was there and it just exploded."

Before the bombing, Sontellinosa, a store clerk, recalled the cooperative was still closed so he went out for a while to buy a cell phone card at a nearby stall.

"And when I got back inside there was already talk of a bomb inside which we just laughed off until it exploded," he said.

Sontellinosa’s wife, Bienvinida, told The STAR they had to leave their children in the care of her parents in Jolo while he recuperated.

"It is good that it is vacation time (for the children) so that I can be with him," she added.

In spite of what she went through, Kasim intends to go back to Jolo and tend to the family business of butchering cows.

Sontellinosa added that he has not lost hope of recovering from this ordeal.

"I’m going back to Jolo, we will all go back to Jolo," Kasim said, as she pointed to her daughter.

"Me too," Sontellinosa said.