chuvaness

oh my gosh. this is such a heartbreaking story. kahit saang angle mo tignan, from amiel's parents' side to the woman involved, it's just so sad. :(

I feel for both families involved. How heartbreaking and tragic. God bless and comfort them during this very difficult time. I'm an Ateneo parent too and I pick up my son from school twice a week. The traffic system on campus is usually closely supervised and the guards do implement the rules, directional signs are user-friendly..I'm wondering how this happened. So sad....

My God! That this can happen in a private school like Ateneo leaves me speechless. How a mother can be so reckless in a parking lot where children are around just shocks me. How can we all sleep tonight?

My thoughts and prayers are with the families. However, I don't think it's a matter of it happening in a private school like Ateneo. For someone who does not reside in the Philippines, I understand the prestige associated with the school. But this is not about it happening at a private school parking area...this tragic accident could have happened anywhere...even in a mall parking lot. Let this accident be a lesson for everyone that life is way too precious to take for granted. And that we need to pay closer attention to our surroundings and we need to have a little more patience whenever we're out and about. I'm sure if the people behind weren't honking frantically, the poor mother wouldn't have been so rushed and reacted in panic.

:(

R.I.P.

sent you an email about this here on livejournal. let's pray for amiel.

let's pray for the families, especially the moms

that is why whenever my husband asks me to pick up the girls from school or bring them to school I am very jittery as I am afraid of things like this happening while I am the one behind the wheels. I make it a point to come very early when bringing them to school or I will come a little late when picking them up so there won't be a lot of students roaming around anymore. I have heard something like this happened in AA (but not as grave as this), a speeding car bumped a little girl (from what I've heard it is a boyfriend of one of the teachers there), she had fractured bones and had to go to school in a wheelchair. I just heard it from a parent years back. The little girl is ok now, thank God.

what is AA?

sorry, Assumption Antipolo.

oops sorry AA stands for Assumption Antipolo

I was horrified too when I learned about this Tuesday evening. I wonder where the Mrs. Torres is right now. Kawawa naman her son --- he will always be labelled as the child of a killer. Kahit accidental, that's how thing are going to be.

Sunod-sunod ang issue sa Ateneo ha!

wag naman. spare the children. this was really a freak accident. no mom wants that to happen to any mom.

this is utterly terrible and i couldn't even fathom how this must be for Amiel's parents, or even that mom in the van and her son/s.

This almost happened to me too when I was in grade school, and I don't know how the jeepney stopped within inches of me, but it did.

I can imagine how traumatic it was for everyone who was around the area and witnessed what happened, students and non-students alike. I heard from friends that other grade school children are traumatized. Ateneo should hold group and individual counselings for students and families ASAP.

Oh my God! Such a tragedy.

amiel was my son's friend...
yesterday when my son went home, he was not his usual self. he just went up to his room and did not even join us for dinner. i didn't know about the accident until he started praying for amiel when i tucked him in. then he told me, "mom, we were just playing catch the other day", i did not know what to say, i just hugged him until he fell asleep.

oh my :( oo nga, i bet his classmates and teachers are so distraught over this. poor little boys, now all of them have to deal with the thought of loss at such an early age. :(

so sorry to hear. that's so close to home.

what happened to amiel was and still is heartbreaking...being a parent myself, i can only feel grief and shed many tears for him and his family...i'm sure it is much more painful for your son & amiel's other friends & classmates...your son is blessed to have a parent like you to comfort him...

despite this feeling of helplessnes, we can only submit to God's will for what happened and pray that this tragedy will never happen again, and more importantly, to pray daily for God's protection and care on our children and loved ones, especially when they are not within our sight....God bless us all...

Shocking and really nakakalungkot. How old was Amiel?

ten years old. fourth grader :(

oh my. too young. too soon. grabe.

it reminds me of the time the little girl was killed in a freak accident in zobel on the fish coaster.

this is so sad. :(

this is heartbreaking. i felt tears trickling down my cheeks :'(

Oh dear, this is very very sad, let us not blame the Ateneo security for this, I mean hindi rin naman sila "perfect" tr agedies like this happen in a private school, how much more in a public school where they have no access to a proper pedestrian? I pray that both families may spare themselves with court battles as everyone is aware how painstaikingly slow our judicial system is right? May Amiel R.I.P :)

10 years old. I have a nephew who I love so much who just turned 10. I heard this story from a close friend who has a son in Ateneo.

Heartbreaking. Simply heartbreaking.

I feel not only for Amiel but for Mrs. Torres. Who would have thought one moment of panic and confusion turned into this tragedy.

Aksidente talaga.

i wish this was just a bad dream. I pray for both mothers. and for little amiel.

Similar accident happened in a private school in toronto years ago. a dad backed up on a young student by accident. There was a city-wide campaign about safety in parking lots. Because even if youre driving just a car (not a van) its really difficult to see little kids. Can happen anywhere. Especially in malls.

something very similar happened to my cousin in a school parking lot. the victim was a little girl. accidents like these are very hard to recover from. i will pray for both families.

This is such a tragedy. I feel for both Amiel's mom and the woman who hit the child, having to live with that for the rest of their lives. But what I can't understand is why make the driver get off the car (when that lane was moving, just stalled by traffic temporarily) when the mother was there all along to pick up her own child? Again, this is just an example of how the attitude of most Filipinos in the road (i.e., the driver leaving his car in the middle of the road - doesn't matter whether it was traffic or not). Also, the impatience of the other cars behind and I can imagine how hard they were honking their horns. I noticed that in other countries (even traffic-ridden Bangkok), they don't honk their horns as much or probably none at all. Filipinos are probably the #1 honkers on the road.

I think the price paid for such stupidity/impatience in this case was too high.

the mom asked the driver to go down to pick up her son, I think inutusan sha.

according to the news, Amiel was snacking on a sandwich when the accident happened, hence the remainder of it on the van's front bumper. if he was hit by the back of the van, how did the sandwich get to the front of the van? baka hindi naman kay amiel yung sandwich. minsan ang news hindi talaga accurate.

nevertheless, it's heart wrenching. who would've have thought something that tragic could happen in a parking lot? it's very unnatural for a "parent to bury their child."

oo nga, why would someone in their right mind tell the driver to get out of a car in a moving lane? SERIOUSLY!
Why in the world?! Its such common thing for us Filipinos to have help pick up our children and do everything for us. This angers me because I am a mother myself and I find that this was inexcusable and could have been easily prevented.

wow. that child did not deserve that.

Clearly there's an element of stupidity here.

well you don't know what happened. she asked her driver to get up her son while she stayed in the car. please don't make rash comments without knowing the facts.

to get up her son? I don't understand.
im not being rash, I'm just feeling extremely sorry for the family of the boy that passed away.
And i'm just agreeing with chuwariwop's comment: the mother could have picked up the child and not have the driver leave the car unattended.
I apologize if I've thwarted you in anyway and if I've used harsh words in anyway- it was out of shock and anger also I am basing my opinion on the facts given. I think issues like this should be addressed accordingly.

And I believe that the lack of thorough thinking is anathema.

i agree that the driver should've stayed in the car and the mom get the kid. it is a sad incident but we can't pass judgment cause we weren't there. nobody wanted this to happen.

True.
I just hope things get settled and that the boys family find peace.
Also, there's this blind spot on SUV's (you can't see things behind you) causes a lot of accidents all over. It even happened to that US country star's little daughter.
This is another story since it was a van. oh well. peace.

"I can't imagine what Amiel's parents are going through as well. I so hope that the last time they saw him, they were able to kiss and hug and tell him how much they love him"-

I chanced upon an interview of Amiel's dad at an AM radio station last Feb 27 around 5:30pm. When asked if there was any premonition from Amiel, he told the radio that he is not a superstitious man. But there was a very unsual thing that Amiel as he was about to leave for school.

According to the dad, while he was watching the driver move the car out of their garage (where Amiel and his brothers rode)Amiel asked the driver to stop the car then he went down and hugged his dad. But during that time, the dad didn't want to put any bad meaning to that. Though looking back, he believes it is a very unsual incident.

I almost cried when I heard it. I was in a car with my two officemates (who are both loving moms) when we heard it... and they cried...