Pregnant Davao City blast victim dies in hospital
MANILA, Philippines – A pregnant woman is the 15th fatality in the night market blast in Davao City.
Vicenta Depalubos Asperin, 21, passed away at the Metro Medical and Research Center around 10:17 p.m. Monday. Asperin, who was six months pregnant, had been in a coma for 11 days.
According to the medical report of the City Social Services and Development Office, Asperin died of heart failure and brain damage. Authorities did not include her unborn baby in the count of fatalities.
"Based on the notes from the Local Civil Registrar, the counting should be one because the unborn baby remained inside the mother's womb. They were not separated," CSSDO chief Ma. Luisa Bermudo said.
The night market explosion on Sept. 2 also left 70 others injured.
Asperin was a massage therapist and among those seriously wounded in the blast. A bomb fragment entered her nose and went straight to her brain.
Her brother Gregorio Depalubos said Asperin was declared brain dead by her attending physician a few minutes before her last breath.
"Before she was brought to the hospital, she even asked what has happened to her. And she fell into a coma after," he recalled, saying his sister did not know about the explosion.
Asperin’s family is now asking for justice.
"We want justice. I hope the people responsible are arrested and that they are made to pay for what they have done. My sister didn't do them wrong. She was innocent and she was pregnant. It is too much! They have to pay,” Depalubos said.
Asperin was the massage therapist of another fatality, 12-year-old Daniel Larrida. He died in the blast.
Asperin’s husband John Lord, was in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley when the bombing happened.
Talitay, Maguindanao Vice Mayor Abdul Wahab Sabal, a local politician whose name was included in President Rodrigo Duterte's list of government officials allegedly linked to illegal drugs, is being investigated over the bombing. Formal charges have yet to be filed.—Rosette Adel
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