The women they left behind fill with memories
By Julie M. Aurelio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:10:00 05/18/2008
BEFORE THEY MET THEIR END, THE victims of the brutal robbery-murders at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. branch in Cabuyao, Laguna, on May 16 had gone about their usual routines in different ways.
On that morning, bank teller Benjamin (not Bayani, as earlier reported) Nicdao, 41, looked at his white barong Tagalog as if he wanted to wear it on his office’s “wash day.”
Knowing that RCBC Cabuyao employees were allowed to wear civvies on Fridays, his wife Sheila asked him: “Are you going to wear your uniform today?”
Nicdao put his barong in the closet and picked out a shirt with white and orange stripes. With him driving, the couple left their home in Biñan at 7:30 a.m., and headed first to the Bank of the Philippine Islands branch in Calamba City, of which Sheila is the manager.
It was the last time the 41-year-old mother of two saw her husband alive.
“He wasn’t acting strangely, save for that moment when he stared at his uniform. He was his usual self. He wasn’t even able to text me about what was happening at the bank,” she told the Inquirer yesterday morning as she waited for the release of her husband’s body at Manila Memorial Park (MMP) in Parañaque City.
Nicdao, along with seven other RCBC Cabuyao employees and a depositor’s representative, were shot in the head by bank robbers in what was described as the worst crime in Laguna in recent memory.
The bodies of the nine victims were taken to the MMP on Friday for processing and autopsy.
MMP staff said the autopsy was conducted by Supt. Roy Camarillo, medico-legal officer of the Calamba police.
While waiting for her husband’s body, Sheila Nicdao nursed her grief and expressed fears about her own safety.
“We are in the same industry. Of course I am afraid, not only for myself but also for the entire banking industry, after this brutal incident,” she said.
Sheila said a friend working at BPI Cabuyao, Anne Natividad, sent her a text message on Friday morning about “a certain commotion and robbery” at the nearby RCBC branch.
Thinking that her husband had been taken hostage, Sheila rushed to the scene. Her stomach knotted with fear upon seeing the police cars surrounding the building.
“We weren’t allowed to go in. Someone said all the victims inside were already dead. I thought they were being held hostage. But it was too late. He was already dead,” she recalled.
It was only at the MMP that Sheila saw her husband’s body. She said hysteria and panic overwhelmed her, and she was unable to look at his ashen face, only at his feet.
Best friend
The Nicdaos were to celebrate 13 years of marriage on June 25.
They were college sweethearts for eight years, and were inseparable.
“He was my best friend,” Sheila said. “We did everything together, even going to the market or the grocery. The only time we were apart was when we were at our separate banks.”
She described Benjamin Nicdao as a sweet husband and father who showered his family with hugs and private jokes.
“Our two children already know that their father is dead, but I don’t know how they will react when they see his body in a coffin,” Sheila said.
“I myself don’t know what will happen when I finally see him lying there,” she said.
Maria Ela Antonio clung to a shred of hope that her husband, depositor representative Ferdinand “Tongdec” Antonio, was not among the dead—until she saw his body late Friday night.
“I was still in shock. I was hoping that he didn’t go to the bank that day, that he wasn’t among the dead. He was unable to say goodbye to me when he left our office,” said Ela, 33.
The couple both worked in a dental supplies company, Ivoclar Vivadent, in Cabuyao, where they also lived. She is a member of the production staff, and he was the liaison officer.
They met eight years ago at work and had two young children.
“He was very affectionate, not just to me but to everybody else. He would give me little trinkets and chocolates on Valentine’s Day,” the young widow said.
She said that during down time at the office, her husband would suddenly pop up in her cubicle and do crazy dances and crack jokes to make her laugh.
On Friday morning, Tongdec went to RCBC Cabuyao, with which he dealt regularly.
Ela was scheduled for the company’s annual physical exam, and proceeded to line up for an X-ray.
“He didn’t pass by my work station anymore. I had no inkling that something bad would happen,” she said.
Ela got wind of the bank robbery shortly after lunch from officemates, who kept worrying about Tongdec.
“I was hoping that he was still alive. It was already 2 p.m. when I got there, but the police wouldn’t let us in,” she said.
Ela got to the MMP on Friday night, after being told that the bodies of the victims would be brought there for processing. Even then, she was still unbelieving that Tongdec was gone.
Tongdec was 31.
Louella Lapaan, 40, summed up best what had happened to the men in their lives: “He didn’t deserve this.”
Her husband, Bernard Lapaan Jr., worked as a cashier service head at RCBC Cabuyao and was so dedicated to his job that he was almost never absent.
“He tried not to miss work as much as he can. He was that dedicated to his work,” said the housewife and mother of three.
Louella described her husband as a loving family man and a health-conscious vegetarian.
Lapaan graduated from law school only last month, and was preparing to take the bar examination.
But despite his busy schedule, he never forgot to send his wife and children text messages saying how much he loved them, Louella said.
“I hope this kind of bloody robbery won’t happen again, won’t happen to families. My husband did not deserve this to happen to him,” she said.
Morning hug
The daughter of janitor/messenger Juan Leyva is accustomed to being awakened by her father’s hug every morning before he went to work.
“His morning hug is gone now,” said Carla May Leyva, 11, the youngest in Leyva’s brood of six.
Leyva had promised Carla a new pair of shoes after her graduation from grade school.
“Ma, what will happen? Papa is gone, and so are the new shoes,” Carla kept telling her mother Gloria after Leyva’s body arrived at the family home in Barangay Real, Calamba City.
“It’s painful to lose a father,” said the crying child.
She said she was very angry at her father’s killers: “He did not commit any crime.”
Leyva’s youngest sister, Lucia Abaca, said: “We had no idea he would die on that day. That day seemed to be an ordinary day.
“He was just a messenger. Robbers are usually not interested in messengers.”
Leyva, 39, had been working at RCBC Cabuyao for 14 years.
He usually arrived at the bank at 7:30 a.m. to clean up and then travel to Manila to deliver letters and messages.
When the news reached her, Gloria Leyva said she hoped her husband was in Manila.
She said she had a strong feeling that he was one of those killed, but that she kept on telling her children and relatives that he was not at his office.
“But he was there. He was killed,” she said, weeping.
Gloria said her husband behaved oddly on Friday morning.
He woke up early but seemed not interested in going to work. “While sipping his coffee, he sat longer than usual outside our house,” she recalled.
And then, unusually, he roamed the house, stopped in front of the children’s room, and watched them sleeping.
Gloria said she did not know what life would be without her husband.
“We depended solely on him. Our children are still young, and I can’t work because I have asthma,” she said.
But she promised to do everything she could to meet her children’s needs. With a report from Niña Catherine Calleja, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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