In Memory of Amiel Alcantara

Any death is tragedy in itself, but the death of a child is tragedy multiplied by the hundreds.

Julian Carlo Miguel (Amiel) Alcantara, a 10 year old student of the Ateneo de Manila University got fatally hit by a van on the afternoon of February 24.

Here is what happened:

According to initial reports, Amiel and his older brother were dismissed from school at past 3pm. The boys were already in their car when Amiel got hungry and so he and his yaya decided to go to the Ateneo grade school canteen to buy something.

Meanwhile, inside a gray hi-ace van, a 30something mom had instructed her driver to go and get her young son. She said she would just take care of moving the vehicle if need be.

One mom (whose son is the classmate of Amiel) was right there and witnessed the horrible, horrible accident. When the driver went out of the van, he left it idling. The cars in front of the van moved already, a big gap was left in front of the van, so the cars behind the van began blowing their horns to make the van move. The mom went down to move the van. That's when she accidentally stepped on the gas, instead of the brakes, rear-ending the car in front of her, which in turn, hit the car in front of it. The impact was strong, but that wasn't when Amiel was hit.

The mom, in her panic, then reversed very quickly. She didn't see Amiel and his yaya who were on their way from the canteen, crossing behind her van, looking for their own car. That's when she hit the boy and the yaya. She didn't even realize that she had hit two people, she kept going in reverse, even if the other drivers and bystanders were screaming for her to stop. They had to extricate poor Amiel from under the van. The mom who witnessed all these has asked her driver to help carry him. When she saw Amiel, she knew at once that he was gone. She saw his things scattered on the ground, even the hotdog he was eating right before the accident.

My prayer goes to the family of Amiel, to his parents, his yaya and especially to his brother. My prayer also goes to the driver of the van and her family. Numerous reports are on the loose about her indifferent attitude towards the accident, about how a cellphone was involved, about the insensitive way she responded to inquiries, but before the official reports are out, let us not add to her burdens. She has suffered enough.

Grasping at reality amidst this surreal event, I realized it could actually be anybody at the shoes of anyone involved in the accident, at anytime.