AHSA - Filipinos here in Al-Ahsa are still finding it difficult to accept the reality that five members of their community are gone. Robert Nietes Demetillo and his wife Elizabeth Brebante Demetillo, both 61 years old, their daughter Joyce Demetillo Hasan, 36 years old, and grandson Aldwin Hope Demetillo Hasan, five years old, all died instantly in a horrific automobile accident on July 7 when a 19-year-old Saudi driver crossed over from the opposite lane to the other side of the highway and crashed at high speed into the victims' TrailBlazer SUV. The impact of the crash caused a pile-up of seven vehicles. Police said there were also other fatalities, including the Saudi driver. The fifth Filipino fatality was Generoso Tejada, the driver of the TrailBlazer SUV in which the victims were riding. Tejada was driving the Demetillo family to the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam to to say goodbye to Joyce and her son Aldwin who were going home to the Philippines for their annual vacation when the accident occurred on Al-Ahsa highway. Pedro de Castro Iba?ez, another Filipino who was riding with the Demetillo family, survived the accident and is now in King Fahd Hospital. He suffered a broken leg and is in stable condition. “All of us, the community, were shocked by their passing; they were part of our lives,” said Erwyn Cabanalan, a co-worker of Joyce at the National Guard Hospital and a very close friend of the Demetillo family. Cabanalan and his family were close neighbors of the Demetillos and the two families were in touch with each other every day. “My son was a classmate of Aldwyn Hope in the nursery section of the Al-Riyadhah International School where Mama Elizabeth was teaching. I used to give them a ride to the school every day,” Cabanalan said. He said co-workers and friends of the Demetillo family at the National Guard Hospital and at the school are deeply mourning their tragic death. “I was supposed to go with them to the airport that night, but told Joyce that I could not be with them because a relative asked me to accompany him to the market to do some shopping. That night we had a picture taking; I felt that the atmosphere was like bidding goodbye to them.” Cabanalan said. Joyce Demetillo Hasan joined the National Guard Hospital as a surgical nurse three years ago and was well-liked by colleagues. Her son Aldwyn Hope was only visiting his mother and grandparents, but enrolled in the nursery class because he liked being with other children, according to Cabanalan. Joyce is married to a military officer, Colonel Mohammed Yusuf Al-Hasan, who also once visited Joyce in Al-Ahsa. Philippine labor attaché David Des Dicang, who is now looking after the interests of the victims, said the Philippine Embassy is completing all the papers required by the Al-Ahsa traffic police for the repatriation of the remains of the deceased to the Philippines. Dicang is also securing the benefits of the five victims. “Our community here will miss the Demetillo family; it is a great loss for all,” said Cabanalan.
