[update] this entry is not meant to be coherent/once in awhile you gotta let out the RAGE;

[mlina]

I'm surprised that only a handful of people have heard of this. At least, in terms of the people I know. Still, I wanted to post about it here as soon as I managed to get more information:

Yesterday afternoon at about 5PM, a pillbox bomb exploded at the front of the McDonald's branch beside De La Salle University, right across from the College of St. Benilde. It was the last day of the Law Bar Exams. 47 students were reported injured.

Click to view

VIDEO ADDED AT 9:37PM

This is relevant to me on three fronts: (1) DLSU is MY university. (2) My brother is a LAW STUDENT from UP Diliman. (3) The LAW BAR EXAMS are held here annually.

This was the first thing I saw on the news when I woke up and went down this morning. I had to sit down and stare at the screen for a good, long while. I poked around the internet, but for the most part, all the news posts circled around the same thing.

_thenothing_ updated me and my family when we picked him up from school this afternoon though. No one from UP Diliman was hurt, but someone from Ateneo was and so were a greater number of San Beda students were. My brother mentioned that someone knew one girl who was just inches from where the pillbox exploded. News is that she lost both her legs. While I have no way of confirming this for myself -- news reports range from just one of the victims losing an arm and a leg, to stating that it was two students who've needed to amputate (which is honestly no better news at all) -- I am taking my brother's word for it. From what little I've heard when he speaks about the Law School community -- he knows people who know people who know people. It's not tiny, but you mill around the same circles nevertheless.

Here are a few links relevant to this issue--
via ABS-CBN News [dot] com, 2 Female Law Students Lose Legs at Bar Exam Bombing
via Inquirer [dot] net, Blast Rocks End of Bar Exams at DLSU - 35 Hurt
via Inquirer [dot] net: Global Nation, Explosion Mars Last Day of Bar Exams - 35 Hurt
via Eleksyon [dot] co [dot] cc, Suspects Behind Bar Exam Bombing Identified

Claims have been and are going around that it was because of Frat War. Brother confirmed that there was some reported fighting just meters from the scene of the explosion. Brother also confirmed that there were fights on the other end of Taft.

My take on things: You stupid f***s. On what was supposed to be the last day of hard work and YEARS of study, stupid Neanderthal FRAT BOYS have to ruin celebrations with a stunt like this.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not harping on all frats. I just can never stand the stupid ones who clearly have to rethink their priorities. Enough with the bullshit macho posturing. It's one thing for you to beat each other up -- in fact, please do; the country is better off without you. It's quite another to involve people who have nothing to do with your abject stupidity.

There is talk that the perpetrators are law students. If they are, they can kiss their accreditation goodbye. Serves them right for being utterly brainless. My country doesn't need imbeciles mucking up in the courtroom.

On a final note, my heartfelt prayers and good vibes go out to the students who were injured as well as their families who will have to deal with the aftermath of things. I will admit though, that while I am thankful that no one died, I cannot help but feel devastated for the kind of injury that this has done to these otherwise brilliant people.

/ENDRANT

[ADDENDUM, 1:14AM, SEPT 28]

Just one more thing before I crash. Located via PINOYTUMBLR:

UPDATE: Suspects behind
DLSU blast identified - SC exec
Source: GMA News.tv

The individuals behind the violence that marred the final day of the Bar exams in a Manila university on Sunday afternoon have already been identified, the Supreme Court said on Monday.

At least 47 people, most of them students, were hurt in the incident that occurred near the De La Salle University campus in Taft Avenue, Manila.

Court administrator Jose Midas Marquez refused to identify the alleged perpetrators. “I cannot reveal yet [their identities]. They have been identified. There are faces already and we have eyewitnesses who have positively seen the ensuing incident,” he said. [READ MORE]