Family of wounded girl in Manila airport shooting seeks financial aid
Police investigators examine the bloodstained pavement at the Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport following an ambush of a southern Philippine town mayor Friday Dec. 20, 2013 at suburban Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines. Labangan Mayor Ukol Talumpa was fatally shot Friday in an attack at Manila’s main airport that also killed his wife and two other people, officials said. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—The three-year-old girl from this city who was hit by a stray bullet in the head at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Friday is now in stable condition after undergoing surgery Saturday morning.
Diane Uy underwent a two-hour operation at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City for removal of debris from the bullet that went through her head, her father Danny Uy told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.
Uy said his daughter was out of danger but needed lose monitoring for possible infection.
He said they were told the surgery cost P200,000 to P300,000 and they have sought help from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office through Bacolod City Representative Evelio Leonardia.
He said they were also hoping to get some help from NAIA management to help defray the cost of their daughter’s medial bills.
Diane’s 18-month-old cousin, Phil Tomas Lirazan, was killed while the boy’s mother and grandmother were also injured by stray bullets when gunmen assassinated Mayor Ocol (not Ukol as previously reported) Talumpa of Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur. Talumpa’s wife and a nephew were also killed in the attack.
A bullet pierced the head of Lirazan and killed him instantly.
Injured were the boy’s mother, Marie Ann Lirazan, 28, who was hit by a bullet on the left hand, and grandmother Amalia Lirazan, 58, who was shot in the back. They are both confined at the East Avenue Medical Hospital in Quezon City, Uy said.
Uy and his wife, Amy Fe Lirazan Uy, also of Barangay Mansilingan in Bacolod, flew to Manila to be with their daughter.
Uy said Phil Tomas was the only child of his sister-in-law, Marie Ann, and Villamor Esto, who works abroad.
The Lirazans and Uy’s daughter had flown to Manila from Bacolod for a Christmas vacation with relatives living in Metro Manila, Uy said.
They were at the arrival area when two motorcycle-riding killers, one in police uniform, shot dead Talumpa, his wife, Lea, and their nephew Salipudin Talumpa, 25.
Related stories:
Zamboanga mayor, 3 others shot dead at NAIA 3
3 wounded in NAIA shooting brought to Quezon City hospital
