ULTRA Stampede

MONTHS after TV network ABS-CBN announced that it had started a foundation to help the families of the 71 persons who were killed during the stampede at the Philsports Arena (formerly Ultra) in Pasig City, some of the victims’ kin said they are still waiting for assistance.

“We have not received any help from (ABS-CBN). We are already having a very difficult time,” Rizaldy Javierto, whose mother Virginia and sister Josephine were among those killed last Feb. 4, told the Inquirer.

He explained that when their mother was alive, she used to receive a monthly pension of almost P60,000 as her husband had served in the US Army. Virginia, who was 81 when she was killed in the stampede, used the money to help her children, most of whom already have families of their own.

Her 63-year-old daughter Estrellita, who survived the stampede, added that part of the monthly pension was spent on the medicines of her 35-year-old brother, who is mentally ill.

“Where are we going to get the money now?” Estrellita lamented, adding that the electricity in their mother’s house had been disconnected after they failed to pay the bill.

Rizaldy, Estrellita and their sister Gilda the other day attended a prayer meeting for stampede victims and survivors in front of the gate where the 71 persons, mostly elderly women who had lined up for days to watch the anniversary show of “Wowowee,” were pinned to death.

But the Javiertos said they were willing to forget about filing charges against ABS-CBN as long as the network would extend support to the family.

“We are only after some financial assistance. We really need some help,” Estrellita also told reporters.

In a statement faxed to the Inquirer the other day, Maloli Espinosa, the TV network’s vice president for government, corporate affairs and public relations, said that ABS-CBN “sympathizes with the victims and continues to do all it can to help them through the 71 Dream Foundation, set up to address the needs of families with legitimate concerns.”

The Javiertos, meanwhile, are fighting another court battle, this time, to claim the P49,000 in cash rescuers had recovered from one of the victims after the stampede on Feb. 4.

The money was returned to the family of Aurora Soriano, 56. But the Javiertos said the money belonged to their mother.

Police had declared the money should have been returned to the Javiertos, citing evidence like pictures taken during the tragedy, the dresses the victims were wearing when they were killed and a video footage from a bank showing that Javierto and her daughters had withdrawn P50,000 before going to the noontime show.

The members of the Soriano family earlier said they would return half of the amount, because they had already spent part of it. But they later said they would just face the Javiertos in court.

Rizaldy said they had already filed charges against the Sorianos.