Pinay victim in Yemen attack wanted to come home

LIPA CITY, Philippines – Less than a year since being employed as a nurse in Yemen, 28-year-old Hazel Pueblos wanted to come home for good to be with her two-year-old son Kiel.

“She wanted to finish a year out of her two-year contract before returning to the Philippines… She didn’t want her child to grow up without a parent,” Hazel’s mother Rebecca said.

Hazel’s husband Juan Abalos also works in Yemen as a maintenance man in a school and they only communicate with their son through Skype on weekends.

But Hazel will no longer be reunited with her son. She was killed in the car bombing in Yemen on Dec. 5 along with six other Filipinos.

“I would miss her playing the piano,” Rebecca said. Hazel played the piano during their Saturday service at the Lipa Adventist Church.

“She’s God-fearing, a loving daughter, she always brings laughter to our family and is a very good mother to her only son,” she added.

Rebecca said they did not have any premonition of Hazel’s death.

Hazel’s brother Rezel, however, said he was surprised when Kiel, still unaware about his mother’s death that fateful night, suddenly uttered, “Wala na si mommy, wala na (mommy’s gone).”

He said this was while they were waiting for confirmation about the situation in Yemen.

“Maybe Hazel whispered to her child that we should accept her sad fate,” he said.

Rezel said they are satisfied with the assistance being extended by concerned government agencies.

“We were told that maybe by next week Hazel’s body would be shipped home,” he said. – With Pia Lee-Brago