Aizza de Chavez, whose brother Jayceryll de Chavez was among the nearly 3,000 who perished in the attacks on the World Trade Center a decade ago, admits she felt "happy" upon learning that the sworn enemy of America and mastermind of 9/11 had been shot and killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in Pakistan, on May 2. But the elation immediately turned into sadness, she says, as she realized that Osama bin Laden's death won't bring back Jayceryll, a 24-year-old portfolio analyst for Fiduciary Trust.
He was on the 95th floor of the WTC South Tower on that fateful morning of Sept. 11, 2011. "Yes, there's some relief that justice is finally served," confides Aizza of Carteret, N.J. in an exclusive interview with the Filipino Reporter. "But there will never be closure," she adds. "For the past 10 years, our family is still coping with the loss."
Aizza's sentiment is shared by Ed Cua, widow of Grace Alegre-Cua, an accountant at Mitsui Bank and who died on the 83rd floor of Tower 2. Ed Cua, of Glen Rock, N.J., said he was happy and couldn't take his eyes off the television once he heard the news of bin Laden's death. But he knew right away it won't give him closure.
"I wouldn't say closure, because the first thing I was saying is there will be more people who will do things like that," Ed told the Star-Ledger. "But hopefully we can prevent it. But my point is that we're still hurting, of course not like before in the beginning."
Ed has raised his two children since his wife's sudden death.
His eldest, Nicole, 22, just graduated from Ramapo College, while Patrick, 18, is currently a student there.
"To me, justice is finally done, although it's not completely done," he said. "I know there are still some people there that work for him. But this is huge. He's the mastermind."
Meanwhile, Aizza de Chavez, a registered nurse at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J., said the latest development in America's fight against terrorism brought back years of extreme pain and grief to her family caused by the sudden death of Jayceryll.
A finance and economics graduate of Rutgers University, Jayceryll lived in Carteret, N.J. with his parents, Bibiano and Asuncion de Chavez, and his sisters Aizza and Aimee.
"What makes it more painful is the fact that we were not able to recover my brother's body," Aizza tells the Reporter. "Not even a single bone, nothing. We were not able to give him proper burial; we were not able to grieve properly," she says.
"Hearing again all the things we hear about 9/11, it seems like everything happened only yesterday," she says. "It was so hard especially for our mom; she tries to go on with her life but it's been a daily struggle especially when you hear about 9/11 in the news all the time. She and our dad miss my brother terribly."
Nonetheless, Aizza says her family is grateful that the United States made true on its promise to bring bin Laden to justice.
As America marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11 this September, Aizza says her family is planning to prepare "something bigger" to mark Jayceryll's death anniversary.
"We offer a nine-day novena mass every year, but we're planning to have something bigger this year since it's the 10th anniversary," she says.
There were a total of 21 Filipinos and Filipino Americans who were killed on 9/11 – 18 on the Twin Towers and three aboard the commercial jetliners used by the terrorists in the attacks.
Several Filipino families of 9/11 victims contacted by the Reporter for this article declined to be interviewed.
"We don't want to relive the horror anymore. I hope your readers will understand," says one mother, whose son also died in the collapse of the Twin Towers.
