Makati execs, cops share city's grief over recent tragedies

It was a day of mourning for Makati City. Aside from placing flags at half mast, Makati City officials, police and City Hall employees trooped to the corner of Epifanio delos Santos and Buendia Avenues on Friday afternoon to remember 15 people who were killed in two separate tragedies that hit the city hard this week. A report by radio dzBB's Nimfa Ravelo said the participants at the memorial service brought flowers and candles in memory of the victims who were recently killed in a bus bombing incident and a construction accident in Makati City. City police chief Senior Superintendent Froilan Bonifacio and fire marshal Senior Superintendent Samuel Tadeo led the participants at the service. Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) head Francis Tolentino were also present at the rites. Binay said he has asked Tolentino to help work out a mechanism that will aid bus drivers and conductors in detecting potential bombers, and to refine their security searches. The dzBB report said many of the police personnel were seen bringing white flowers, while many City Hall employees brought candles and flowers.
On Tuesday, an improvised bomb ripped through a Newman Goldline bus at the corner of EDSA and Buendia Avenue, killing five passengers and injuring 14 others. The incident prompted Mayor Binay to ask President Benigno Aquino III for police and military reinforcements. Binay said the memorial will also be for 10 construction workers who were killed after their electric gondola collapsed and fell on Thursday. "Puwede na rin natin isama yan [construction workers] kasi nakakalungkot ang pangyayari kahapon," Binay said in an interview on dzBB radio. (We can include the construction workers in the memorial because yesterday’s tragedy also grieves us.) The workers were installing glass panels on the upper floors of the 39-story building and were reportedly about to go on a break when the incident occurred.—KT/JV, GMANews.TV