I had several instances wherein I almost got killed. These include being run by a vehicle, almost falling from a high place, and even drown. But this Friday afternoon (October 19) it was different.
My schedule for this day should be accompanying my friend, who is taking the CPA Board Exam the following day, to attend the 10am mass in Quiapo Manila. Afterwards we planned to go to Glorietta to have lunch, play in Timezone, and watch a movie to help her relax a bit. But as usual she was late again. Therefore, we attended the 11am mass instead. After the mass, we boarded a PVP bus which was going to Makati Ave. We arrived in Makati a little before 1pm. We walked pass through Landmark to get to Glorietta. She wanted to make little side stopping before we eat but I told her that I was hungry.
Earlier that day we agreed to dine in Pizza Hut which was in the second floor of Glorietta 2. We proceeded to Pizza Hut and placed our orders. Moments later a loud bang was heard. I didn't move thinking that it was nothing serious. I actually thought that it was some activity prepared by Glorietta. But the whole Glorietta trembled like there was an earthquake. The ceiling almost fell but luckily only small debris fell from the ceiling. My friend was pushing me to stand. Immediately I packed my things. We turned our heads and saw heavy white smoke outside the establishment. People were screaming and running away from the smoke. That was the time that I realized that it was an explosion and that it might not be the only one. We panicked! I grabbed my friend’s hand and we ran toward the escalators in the activity area. Pizza Hut was just about 20 meters away where the bombing happened. We were lucky that the direction of the bomb explosion was in the direction of Park Square and not toward the activity area. At the bottom of the escalator, some insulators of the mall can be found. Debris kept falling inside and the smoke was approaching the activity area. I told my friend to ran headed for SM. We ran and never looked back. People from SM didn’t know that there was a bombing incident at Glorietta. Later a group of women and security guards were screaming and running toward us. At that instant we ran to MRT station, bought tickets and finally got out of the place.
It was a traumatic experience for us. I lost my appetite that afternoon. Both of us can’t believe what just happened. We kept recalling that we could have been in the exact spot where the bombing happened, if we attended the 10am mass and arrived earlier at Glorietta or we stopped for a while to shop or even if we walked a little slower. We were at ease around 3pm and my friend went home. We were one step closer to death. Thank God were okay.
