‘From death sprang life’

MEMORIAL MASS Two women join hands at a Mass in memory of Marie Rose Abad and other 9/11 victims at a chapel in Manila. Abad’s husband had nearly 50 homes built to fulfill her wish to help the poor. AP

People in Manila brought roses for the victim who helped give them homes but whom they never met. A mother in Kuala Lumpur greeted her dead son. And mourners in Tokyo stood before a piece of steel from Ground Zero, remembering the 23 bank employees who never made it out alive.

A decade after 9/11, the day that changed so much for so many people, the world’s leaders and citizens paused to reflect Sunday.

From Sydney to Paris, formal ceremonies paid tribute to the nearly 3,000 who perished from more than 90 countries.

And, in a reminder that threats remain, Swedish police said four people were arrested on Sunday on suspicion of preparing a terror attack as authorities in Washington and New York beefed up security in response to intelligence about possible plans for a car bomb attack.

In Manila’s Tondo district, dozens of former shanty dwellers offered bouquets of red and white roses, balloons and prayers for another 9/11 victim, American businesswoman Marie Rose Abad.

The neighborhood used to be a shantytown that reeked of garbage. But in 2004, Abad’s Filipino-American husband Rudy built 48 brightly colored houses, fulfilling his late wife’s wish to help impoverished Filipinos.

The area where the one-room houses stand has since been named “Marie Rose Abad Village” in memory of her. The houses were built by Gawad Kalinga with donations from Abad’s husband.

“It’s like a new life sprang from the death of Marie Rose and so many others,” resident Nancy Waminal said. “We now survive because of her.”

Residents of the village said they had never met Abad.

For some people, the pain never stops.

A decade has passed but in Malinao town in Aklan, Evangeline Tamayo-Iguiña still cannot bear to watch the footage of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

Her brother, Hector Tamayo, was among those who perished when hijacked planes slammed into the Twin Towers. His body has never been found.

“I could not keep on watching the replays of television footages of the bombing,” Iguiña told the Inquirer.

‘He’s my sunshine’

In Malaysia, Pathmawathy Navaratnam woke up on Sunday in her suburban Kuala Lumpur home and did what she’s done every day for the past decade: wish her son Vijayashanker Paramsothy “Good morning.”

The 23-year-old financial analyst was also killed in the attacks on New York.

“He is my sunshine. He has lived life to the fullest, but I can’t accept that he is not here anymore,” Navaratnam said. “I am still living, but I am dead inside.”

Conspiracy theories

The Sept. 11 attacks spawned many conspiracy theories around the world, especially among Islamists who allege American or Israeli involvement.

In Pakistan, supporters of an Islamist political party staged anti-US protests to mark the anniversary, holding up banners that repeated conspiracy theories.

But little attention was paid to such events and comments on a day dominated by sorrow and pain of the memories.

Fuji employees

In Japan, families gathered in Tokyo to pay their respects to the 23 Fuji Bank employees who never made it out of their World Trade Center office. A dozen of the workers who died were Japanese.

One by one, family members laid flowers in front of an enclosed glass case containing a small section of steel retrieved from Ground Zero.

They clasped their hands and bowed their heads. Some took pictures. Others simply stood in solemn silence. There were no tears, just reflection.

Sorrow not anger

Sydney resident Rae Tompsett, 81, said she had never felt angry over the murder of her son Stephen Tompsett, 39, a computer engineer who was on the 106th floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower when it was hit by a hijacked plane.

“No, not anger,” she said. “Sorrow. Sorrow that the people who did this believed they were doing something good.”

The retired school teacher and her husband Jack, 92, were among more than 1,000 people who packed Sydney’s Roman Catholic St. Marys Cathedral for a special service.

“It’s incredible that it is 10 years—it feels a bit like yesterday,” Tompsett said.

Fight vs terrorism

South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak sent a letter to US President Barack Obama, conveying his “deepest condolences” to the victims of the tragedy, their bereaved families and the American public.

Lee called the attacks “unpardonable” and praised US efforts to fight terrorism.

And leaders in Pakistan, which has been a victim of al-Qaida terrorism but is also accused of not doing enough to crack down on terrorists, said they joined Americans in honoring the memory of those killed 10 years ago.

“As a country that has been severely affected by terrorism, we reaffirm our national resolve to strengthening international cooperation for the elimination of terrorism,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Suicide bomber

The Taliban marked the anniversary by vowing to keep fighting against US forces in Afghanistan and saying they had no role in the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Each year, 9/11 reminds the Afghans of an event in which they had no role whatsoever,” a statement e-mailed to news organizations said. “American colonialism shed the blood of tens of thousands of miserable and innocent Afghans.”

Hours later, a Taliban suicide bomber in a large truck blew it up at the gate of a Nato combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan, killing two civilians and injuring 77 US soldiers.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, after the Taliban who then ruled the country refused to hand over the Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, who was living in Afghanistan at the time.  Bin Laden was killed four months ago at his Pakistan hideout by US forces.

Al-Qaida threat

“Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, my brother’s soul will finally rest in peace,” said Yambem Laba, whose younger brother Jupiter Yambem was among the victims.

Jupiter, an Indian, was the manager of Roof of the World Restaurant at the World Trade Center.

About 100 family members and close friends gathered at his ancestral home in the northeastern state of Manipur for prayers.

“Osama is dead but the threat from al-Qaida has not ended,” Laba said. Reports from Jaymee Gamil in Manila; Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas; and AP