“The language of war is victims. It is victims that compose the language.”

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 9/11 mastermind

The sun was crawling out of the eastern horizon bringing patches of light in the sky while a cool breeze blows gently in just outside the hangars of air base. Captain Frederick Antonio dressed in his flight suit, just returned from a reconnaissance mission in Mindanao as his plane landed in Sangley Point, the headquarters of the Philippine Air Force Strike Wing. He hurriedly changed into his general office attire (GOA) uniform in a shade of light blue, just as enlisted personnel prepared to hoist the Philippine Flag, despite being exhausted and sleep derived, Fred rushed to the General Headquarters in Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, zooming his Honda Civic along the highway.

The president gave the order to quash the terror groups responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians and put an end to the endless threat.

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It was a glorious Sunday morning, anticipated to be a fun-filled time of bonding and catching-up-with-lost-time among family members. Malls were filled with huge crowds and groups of people. Cars, SUVs and vans inched slowly entering the covered parking areas of commercial areas waiting for their turn to claim their parking tickets. Patrons exited the department stores carrying several shopping bags as they patiently waited for a taxi or a driver-driven family vehicle.

Suddenly, a powerful explosion rocked the heart of the Makati Commercial Center — a bomb detonated near a video arcade in Glorietta 3. The blast shattered windows and caused the collapse of a sizeable portion of the ceiling of the covered pedestrian bridge on the third floor of the mall, scattered glass littered the streets while shards of broken glass and dust covered the cars parked under the bridge.

The explosion also caused ceilings of nearby shops and lights to shatter. Thick gray smoke smelling like firecrackers billowed from inside the game arcade. Casualties of the blast hurried out of the mall with minor injuries and blood smeared on their shirts.

The blast came less than 24 hours after police received a warning that a bomb would go off in the city.

Members of the press rushed to the scene, gathered the needed data in preparation for a live news coverage that 120 were injured, some were minors and 23 were killed from a potent bomb explosion allegedly planted by terrorists. The victims were rushed to nearby hospitals.