
Pain lingers for Filipino community and others, 40 days since Lapu Lapu tragedy
VANCOUVER — On the 40th day since Connie Sombrea attended the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver — an event that would end with 11 people dead — she made her first visit to the memorial to victims of the tragedy at Mountain View Cemetery.
The site adorned with dozens of stuffed teddy bears, Philippines flags, and handwritten cards is just a couple blocks from the site of the April 26 ramming attack on the festival crowd that also left dozens injured.
“It is very hard to move on, but I mean day by day, we can’t dwell,” said Sombrea, reflecting on the weeks since the attack. “Or else it’s just gonna hurt you even more, right?”
Thursday marked the end of a 40-day mourning period, significant in Filipino Catholic tradition.