Filipino community in shock over road tragedy
Time and time again we are shown how tragedy on the road affects the whole island community. As members of the Rarotongan triathlon community prepare to commemorate the life of Pauline “Granny” Atera with a memorial bike ride around the island this Saturday, the Rarotongan Filipino community also continues to deal with tough emotions in the wake of the fatal accident involving Atera and Chris Castillo.
Cook Island resident Henry Ereno is the President of Filipino Association Club Philippines Rarotonga (CPR), the club that Chris Castillo belongs to. Ereno, who has resided in the Cook Islands for approximately 26 years, expressed the emotions felt throughout the Filipino community. “Everybody – especially that day when it happened – we got a shock. We were really shocked.” Ereno assisted Castillo during the entire initial inquiry into the accident and provided his services as an interpreter for Castillo when necessary. In his role as president of CPR, Ereno is also rallying members of CPR to assist Castillo’s family where they can.
Castillo has previously worked in Rarotonga on a three-year contract, after which he returned to the Philippines. According to Ereno, Castillo has been back on the island for approximately one year, managing Vara’s Backpackers with his wife as well as assisting with work at Te Vara Nui Village. Ereno commented, “Throughout the years that I have known Chris - he’s not a drinker. He’s really a family oriented man. He’s got one son and I think he focuses his attention to [his son]. Generally what I can say about Chris is that he is a good person.” Castillo has a sister who resides in Rarotonga who has provided tremendous support for Castillo as he prepares for his next Court hearing and grapples with his emotions about the accident. “He’s lucky also because his real sister is here for him too – that’s what counts. His own blood is here [to support him].”
Going forward, CPR and the wider Filipino community are preparing to fundraise in order to help Castillo and his family with legal costs. Ereno stated, “To help him out we called a general meeting of the members of CPR. At the moment we have plans to do five different fundraisers.” For the first fundraiser the club will host a raffle and Ereno anticipated that prizes would include a laptop and possibly a mobile phone or digital camera. While he said the intention was to limit the outreach for donations mainly to the Filipino community, he did add that if Cook Islanders felt impelled to donate or purchase raffle tickets, the Filipino community and family of Castillo would “really, really appreciate it.” He also added that the profits from the club’s fundraising are intended to ease the burden of the family and not to pay for the entire legal costs of the case.
According to Ereno, Castillo’s wife is still traumatised by what has happened and the Filipino community is doing whatever necessary to help his wife and child as they prepare for the hearing and await the outcome. “We are sad that this happened. When we had the meeting, everybody was really in a sombre mood.” Ereno said that representatives of the Filipino community wished to attend the funeral service of Atera as a show of respect and also of sympathy to her family, however they were advised against this by some locals and were told the situation at the time was “still volatile” and that they may “encounter some emotional moments”. Instead the representatives of the Filipino community sent flowers and also offered a financial donation to help Atera’s family. Ereno expressed his condolences to Atera’s husband, family and friends.
For now, Ereno said the main focus of CPR was planning how they can assist Castillo with his legal costs, as well as how they can offer support to Castillo’s wife and child and he hoped that the outcome was the best possible outcome for all involved. The case will next be heard in court on Wednesday 21 December. -Ngariki Ngatae

Headlines : Times 290 02 March 2009
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