Jerome Christopher Hernandez

I am working for Ayala Land. At least three days a week, I am in Glorietta and Greenbelt for an entire day, from opening to closing time.

Friday, October 19, 2007. I am assigned at Glorietta, so I woke up at 8:30am and started to do my morning rituals. It so happened that my 10 year old little brother didn't have classes so I asked him to come with me to work. So he did.

We arrived at Glorietta at 10AM. After logging in at the sales office of The Columns on the 3rd floor of Glorietta 3, my brother and I went to Breadtalk then McDonald's to have breakfast. After that, we went to Timezone to play. After Timezone, I had to do my queue at the sales office so I left my brother at the e-Lounge so that he'll just play some internet games while waiting for me. At exactly 1PM, I came back for him, but on my way to the e-Lounge I saw one of my clients. I had to tour the client to the model units of The Columns, and funnily my little brother tagged along. The tour ended at around 1:17pm. I am supposed to go immediately to Greenbelt for my 30-minutre queue there. I thought of just leaving my little brother at the e-Lounge again and come back for him after 30 minutes. But then, I just asked him to join me. And I am so glad I did.

At around 1:25 we arrived at Greenbelt. Shortly after that, I noticed something. The glass wall of a store was shaking. That was for about 4 seconds. Although, there was no sound heard. So it just seemed like a mild mini earthquake. But after about 5 minutes, there were already police cars, ambulances and firetrucks rushing by outside.Still, everyone was clueless in Greenbelt because it seemed so normal and relaxed there. Then after a few moments, my officemates started to receive texts about an explosion at Glorietta.

The text reports had different versions. At least four. I started to worry when the texts were mentioning that at least 4 were already reported dead, and at least 40 injured. I just waited for the right time to go back to Glorietta and see what happened, and finally see if our car, which was parked near Gerry's Grill area, was okay.

Here are some pictures to tell the story of our walk to Glorietta.



APPROACHING  THE USISERO AREA


AT THE USISERO AREA


ROAD CLOSED. ANG DAMING AMBULANCE & POLICE CARS.


Nobody was allowed to pass through this road, so we had to go around the Park Square 2 building.



NAKA CORDON ANG PERIMITER. WALANG KAHIT NA SINONG TAO ANG PWEDE BEYOND THE CORDON... PERO HAYOP PWEDE.


MANONG GUARD PROTECTING THE PERIMITER


THE BLAST AREA, THE ENTRANCE OF GLORIETTA 2, WAS PACKED WITH AMBULANCES.


At this point, I had to enter Glorietta to go back to our sales office to get my friend's stuff, which included her car key. Unfortunately, the whole area was wrapped around by the police line. There were cops and Ayala security allover. It was almost impossible to get inside. Well... almost.

And so, I used my pretty boy looks and oozing charms.... hehehehe.... Joke lang.
Diniskartehan ko na lang para makapasok ako. I used my Ayala CII ID and, in addition, caressed the guards' egos, to let me in. They did. But they had to assign someone to go with me. And so there I was, right inside Glorietta. It was like a ghost town. Walang tao. And there were fire department officers inspecting the emptied shops.

I was not allowed to take pictures, of course. When I started talking to the person who was with me, and when I asked him "Saan ba exactly nangyari?" he looked down and in a whispering voice said "Sir, bawal po kaming magsalita eh."

But the "pasaway" in me had to take pictures. So here are some pics inside Glorietta after the blast. Forgive the blurred-ness because I took them while I was moving.



THE GLORIETTA ACTIVITY CENTER. SEEMS FINE, ACTUALLY. WALA LANG TAO.


SA GITNA, SA KALIWA NG ESCALATOR, IS THE WAY TO GLORIETTA 2. DOON YUNG BLAST. IT WAS DARK BUT I COULD SEE THAT SOME STORES LOOKED LIKE THE FIRES WERE JUST PUT OUT. PERO THE REST OF GLORIETTA SEEMS PERFECTLY FINE.


I wasn't able to take any pictures after this one. But the thing is, there weren't actually any horrifying sights inside. It just looked like Glorietta at 9AM before opening time.

The thing is, the damage is only concentrated at the Glorietta 2 lobby entrance. The place where when you go upstairs there's Toby's Arena and towards Timezone G2 and Red Lane. In that area, the damage is terrible. It was practically burned and shaken. What makes it harder to take is the fact that the G2 lobby is where the "Walking Stuffed Animals" (a kiddie ride) area is located. Nakakatakot at nakakainis dahil lugar ng mga bata yun eh. And on the 3rd level beside Toby's is a kids' station where parents leave their children to play while they do their shopping. Just makes you want those motherfucking people behind this blast KILLED SLOWLY AND BURNED. Well, I guess that's the purpose of having Satan and his hell. 8 people were reported killed by the blast. More than 80 were injured. This is, by far, the worst tragedy in Ayala Center's history.

What's disappointing is that the media is exaggerating everything. If you watch the news on TV or listen to it on the radio, it seems like this huge mega-tragedy in the entire Makati and Metro Manila. My clients from other parts of the country, and even those abroad, were texting and calling to check if i'm alright and to ask about what really is the situation. They were so scared. One client from Laguna that I was supposed to meet at Bonifacio High Street in Global City at 6PM cancelled, and she even said everyone in their office in some industrial park in Laguna, all employees from Metro Manila were advised not to go home. They were asked to stay away from Metro Manila. How fucking overreacting is that?!

Well, perhaps that's because of the super exaggeration of people and media's focus on the horror side of the story. Like they're in this quest for shiocking news, alarming pictures, and panic-inducing angles. When, in fact, as you can see in my pictures, it's really not that terrible at all. It is a very isolated tragedy, concentrated only on a part of Glorietta 2. But then, irresponsible people, from text balsters to media members, make it seem so dire. They have scared the shit out of people everywhere.

TERRORISTS are known as such because they cause panic and spread terror on people. That's exactly what the bombers did today. But if that's the job description of a terrorist, then aren't the irresponsible people and media members qualified as terrorists themselves by doing just that?

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Ipagdasal po natin ang mga namatay at nasugatan sa nangyari ngayon. Sana mapayapa sila, at sana din ay maayos na ang kasong ito. At isa pa, sana'y di na rin masyadong lumaki pa ang ripple effect ng nangyari ngayon. Sana mawala na ang takot at pag-aalala ng mga tao.