Philippines Lives Destroyed - Human Rights Watch

Jessa Aventurado, 12, Alex Briones 12, and Riza Blanca Ompoc, 12,
students at a Cagayan de Oro school who traveled to Manila for a
school competition, were killed during their return trip.
© 2006 John Sifton/Human Rights Watch (courtesy of Ompoc family)
Rights Watch that at the time the bomb went off she
was getting ready to go to bed. “Our door was blasted
off [its hinges] and I was thrown onto the ground. I
didn’t know what was going on. It was a commotion.
I was on the ground looking for my clothes, glass lying
everywhere; I cut my arms and legs.... Then we left
the cabin and made our way down to another deck....
I had to jump off one deck onto another.... I was
shouting and screaming.”
Human Rights Watch spoke to several relatives of
victims, who described hearing about the bombing,
and about the pain of losing their family members.
Ritzelle Paculba, who lost her daughter Clynn in the
bombing, told Human Rights Watch: “She wanted to
be a lawyer or a journalist.... My husband is hurting
now, he struggled a lot when she died.”
Nancy Mabalos, one of the teachers killed in the bombing
(pictured here with her husband).
© 2006 John Sifton/Human Rights Watch (courtesy of Mabalos family)
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