02 September 2016, around 2200H Philippine Time. An improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in Davao City that killed 14 and injured 67. The Abu Sayyaf Group claimed the responsibility.
At that exact moment, my sister Edna, her business partner Mary, along with Joji and I were having an informal business meeting at home regarding the opening of Coffee For Peace Bistro — the second shop of Coffee For Peace, Inc. (CFPI).
We received a call from my son, Byron, informing us of a big blast two blocks away from the apartment where he lives. I change from my pajama to my field work clothes and went straight to the site of the bomb explosion to document it as part of the commitment of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) to contribute to the information and communication technology resources to the Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) Network in the Philippines. Here was the video report I immediately dispatched to our constituencies:
On Sunday evening, two nights after the blast, our company of 6 representing the staff and management of PBCI and CFPI went back to the Roxas Night Market and joined many of our fellow Davao City residents —
- to spend some quiet moments in prayer, paying respects to those who lost their lives and sending positive energies to those who are still suffering from injuries — telling the terrorists that they failed in terrorizing us;
- to eat dinner so that the street food vendors who survived the terrorists’ bomb would continue their livelihood and that business will go with better determination — telling the terrorists that they failed in terrorizing us;
- to get massage in memory of those street massage attendants and clients who were killed in the blast, done by the cowardly act of the terrorists — telling the terrorists that they failed in terrorizing us.
CNN Philippines picked-up our story and broadcasted it nationwide:
The next day, more of our PBCI-CFPI came out and joined a greater number of our city’s residents to reassert our sense of freedom and security as peaceful and law-abiding citizens of this urban center. Here’s our 5-hour peaceful defiance of terror compressed in a 3-minute video: