Procession on ‘killer highway’ marks Filipino journalist’s 40th death day

Lourdes “Chit” Estella-Simbulan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

QUEZON CITY – Friends and family of the late journalist and professor, Lourdes “Chit” Estella-Simbulan, marked the 40th day since her death on Tuesday morning by holding a procession for road safety on the “killer highway” that took her life.

Estella-Simbulan was killed on the evening of May 13 when a bus rammed into the taxi she was riding on along Commonwealth Avenue. She was on her way to meet with friends at the UP-Ayala Land Technohub nearby.

Estella-Simbulan’s husband, Roland, and activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes, led the procession.

From the University of the Philippines-Diliman College of Mass Communications, the group,
bearing a tarpaulin banner in memory of Estella-Simbulan, made its way to the University Avenue, then out along Commonwealth, toward the site of the accident.

The banner was placed on the sidewalk fronting the Technohub. Anthuriums were also planted in place of a shrub the bus had also ran over after it collided with Estella-Simbulan’s taxi.

“I’m trying to cope by the day. But it helps when I see so many people miss her. I hope something meaningful will come out of this unfortunate accident,” Roland said.

He appealed for witnesses who saw the actual collision to come out and contact him. “The witnesses we have talked to only saw what happened after,” the impact, he said. The closed-circuit camera televisions in the area were also not working at the time, he added.

Reyes, on the other hand, urged discipline on the road and a higher regard for other people’s safety. “Commonwealth Avenue is not a killer highway. That’s a misnomer. It’s a good highway,” he pointed out.
He said the problem was “killer enforcers, killer drivers, killer operators” who were rude and fond of speeding.