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‘Wowowee’ victims appeal to ‘Eat Bulaga’ to join ‘game’
MANILA, Philippines -- About 50 victims of the "Wowowee" stampede held a mass and a vigil in front of the gates of the Philsports Arena (formerly Ultra) in Pasig City Monday to mark the second anniversary of the incident which claimed the lives of 74 people.
At the same time, the group appealed to "Eat Bulaga," Wowowee’s rival TV show on GMA 7, to let them participate in its “On the Spot” portion “to alleviate their plight” since they have not received help from ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. which produces Wowowee.
Candles were lit at the entrance to the arena, where most of the victims died in a stampede on February 4, 2006 while waiting for the gates to open. Most of them had waited in line for days just to enter the arena where the first anniversary of Wowowee was to be held.
According to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), over 800 people were injured in the mad rush to get in for a chance to win millions of pesos in prizes.
Rose Roque of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) reiterated the group’s call for ABS-CBN to extend them assistance. She noted that the network has yet to fulfill its promise to help all those who were injured or those who lost their loved ones in the incident.
While she acknowledged that ABS-CBN had extended some form of assistance to some families whose members died in the stampede, Roque said some 200 others have yet to receive financial help of any kind.
VACC said it sent a letter to the management of Eat Bulaga on January 15, asking for permission to let the Wowowee victims join one of the show’s portions where participants have a chance to win cash prizes.
“While waiting for developments in their case, may we respectfully request your kind and generous accommodation of the request of the victims to be featured in the ‘On the Spot’ portion of the show,” VACC’s letter to Eat Bulaga executive producer Malou Choa-Fagar said.
The VACC included in its letter the names of about 70 Wowowee victims. It said that they have yet to hear from the show’s management.
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