ULTRA Stampede

MANILA, Philippines -- The scene remains fresh in his memory: The street was littered with bodies whose faces were frozen in pain.

The area emitted an unbearable stench -- a mix of urine and human waste -- offering some clues as to how much suffering the victims endured when they were pinned to death.

Pasig City Rescue operations commander Romme Antinero was among the first to respond to the stampede at the Philsports Arena (formerly Ultra) a year ago. A total of 71 people died in a stampede that marred the anniversary celebration of the TV game show “Wowowee.”

“We were told medical response was needed in the area. We thought we would have to take care of people with only minor injuries,” Antinero said.

Unprepared

He added, however, that he and his team were not prepared for what they saw.

Twenty bodies were sprawled on Capt. Henry Javier Street. Survivors looked on and some were fainting out of exhaustion and shock.

Antinero ordered his members to search the area for other casualties. They were shocked to find more bodies lined up on the slope going to the compound of the arena grounds.

“That was my first time to see a big number of casualties,” the 31-year-old rescuer said.

His team had responded to a lot of emergencies. But seeing bleeding victims of vehicular accidents or even those with broken limbs had not prepared him for the shock of seeing a big number of bodies, mostly elderly women, lined up on the street.

But Antinero and his team had a job to do.

Buckling down to work

His team managed to revive two victims who no longer had pulses when they were checked but most had been dead minutes or even hours before they were pulled out of the pile of bodies.

Some of the rescuers broke down the moment they left the area, Antinero recalled. Most of them were quiet during the debriefing procedure.

Some begged off from going around hospitals and morgues to check how many were killed and injured, saying they had witnessed too much.

Nightmares

One of them had nightmares even two months after the stampede.

This is what happened, according to survivors and the police:

In an attempt to get ahead of the line and enter the arena to get assured seats, people on the street started pushing those in front of them, pinning elderly women, who were prioritized in the first few lines, against the closed LRP Gate on the Ultra grounds.

The gate leads to a 70-meter-long slope, descending at an angle of about 30 degrees, according to officials.

So when the gate gave way, the victims slid down the slope, falling one on top of the other, pinning children, mothers and grandmothers on the ground and against the railings.

Those who were farther away kept on pushing, thinking that those in the front lines were already moving, not knowing that there were people who were already being trampled upon.

Vigil for justice

On Saturday, exactly a year after the stampede occurred, hundreds of people held a vigil at the Philsports Arena to commemorate the tragedy and call for justice for those killed or injured in the Ultra tragedy.

Some of those present placed banners bearing messages calling for justice at the gates of the arena.

Rose Roque, one of the vigil leaders from the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) which is helping some of the victims’ kin, said that a multinational company had given them some food for the two-night vigil.

Still waiting

Another vigil leader, Rizaldy Javierto, whose mother Virginia and sister Josephine were among those killed, said that he was still waiting for the pledges made by the “71 Dreams Foundation.”

The foundation was formed by TV network ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., which produces “Wowowee,” to provide long-term assistance to families orphaned by the tragedy.

“We only got the P75,000 burial and interment fee. I am asking for the damages they caused on our lives,” Javierto told the Inquirer.

“My mother used to receive a monthly pension of almost P60,000 as our father served in the US Army,” he added.

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

In March 2006, the National Bureau of Investigation filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and multiple physical injuries charges against top executives of ABS-CBN in connection with the stampede.