QC assists son of stampede victim

The son of an ULTRA stampede victim, whose body was initially claimed by an impostor, received the other day financial assistance from Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Melvin Bein, 24, personally accepted a P10,000 check from Belmonte at City Hall after the Dream 71 Foundation referred him to the city government for financial assistance.

"I am very grateful to Mayor Belmonte for the help he extended to me and my brother," Bein told The STAR.

Their mother Ester Lea was among the 71 fatalities in the tragedy, but it took them almost a week before they could got the body because another person from Payatas claimed it was that of his sister and collected the money intended for relatives of the victims.

Teresa Mariano, chief of the city Department of Social Services, said Ester Lea is the 12th stampede victim from Quezon City to receive financial assistance from the city government.

Bein recalled that their mother, a laundry woman, had asked time off from her employer so she could join the Wowowee anniversary show on Feb. 4. They could not find her body after hearing news of the tragedy.

"We spent a week looking for our mother. We then found out that a family in Payatas was holding a wake for her," he said.

He said the TV network assisting the victims had released the initial amount to the first family. After Bein was able to prove that the body was that of his mother, police recovered it from the first family.

The first family was forced to give up the body when the sister they claimed to have died appeared on a TV news program.

Bein said he has no idea if charges had been filed against the claimants.