Lucky Plaza accident: Emotional scenes as family, friends attend wake of victim Arlyn Nucos

SINGAPORE: About 100 friends, family and Filipino community members in Singapore attended the wake of Arlyn Picar Nucos on Wednesday (Jan 1).

Ms Nucos, 50, was one of the six victims of the Lucky Plaza accident that happened on Sunday.

Her employers entered the funeral parlour at Sin Ming at about 11.40am to view their beloved helper’s body. 

Ms Nucos had worked with them since 1992, said Bernard Menon, the director of the migrant workers’ segment at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), which oversees the Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) and the Migrant Workers’ Centre. 

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Ms Nucos, who had no children of her own, had seen the employer’s three children grow up for almost 30 years, Mr Menon said. 

The employer and her family declined to speak to the media. 

After waiting at the coffee shop next door, the rest of the bereaved streamed into the funeral parlour at Sin Ming at about 11.45am, many of them unable to hold back tears.

Just minutes before noon, a priest from the Church of Sacred Heart performed the last rites for Ms Nucos which lasted for about five minutes. 

He read from the Bible as mourners, most of them women from the Filipino community, gathered around her casket and repeated the prayers after the priest.

“One day we’ll meet Arlyn,” he said. 

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After the last rites were performed, the women moved closer to the casket to see her body as tissues were passed around. Some of them laid flowers on top of her casket, while others leaned in to say a few words to her.

Laila Laudencia, one of the victims who has been discharged from hospital and who was Ms Nucos’ friend, was sitting at the back with a bandage on her leg. She cried openly as friends surrounded her, comforting and hugging her.

READ: Filipino community remembers victims of Lucky Plaza accident

READ: Two women injured in Lucky Plaza accident discharged from hospital

Marites Asuncion, said that she was a close friend of Ms Nucos and that they were part of the same association in Singapore, called Annak Ti La Union Detoy. 

“She is very kind,” Ms Asuncion said. “We would go for picnics and she would cook for us dishes like Adobo.” 

After she heard about accident, Ms Asuncion rushed over to the scene and was one of those that helped to identify Ms Nucos, she said. She followed the victims to the hospital afterwards. 

Edith Valladolid said that she knew Ms Nucos when she worked for a family that lived near Ms Nucos’ employers in the Holland neighbourhood. 

They would see each other and stop to chat at Empress Road market once in a while. They were not close, Ms Valladolid said, but “Arlyn is a very nice friend”. 

Susett Raquiza, a domestic helper in Singapore, did not know Ms Nucos but used her day off to pay her respects. “I wish she may rest in peace and for her family to be strong.”

An envelope was passed around to collect money for Ms Nucos’ family. Ms Nucos is from the La Union province of the Philippines. The money will be handed to her sister-in-law who also works as a domestic helper in Singapore and was among the women who came to pay her respects said. 

Ms Nucos’ sister-in-law arrived midway through the service as she went to visit Arceli Picar Nucos, Ms Nucos’ sister, in hospital earlier.

Arceli Nucos was also a victim of the accident and is currently in the intensive care unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said Mr Menon. 

As the hour drew to a close, the undertaker came to take Ms Arlyn Nucos’ body, which will be repatriated to the Philippines this afternoon. The hymn “Amazing Grace” played as the casket was rolled out while the mourners lined in two rows. 

Some of them yelled “bye ate” – ate means older sister in Tagalog – and followed the casket to the main road as they bid her farewell. 

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Close to S$250,000 has been raised so far, said Mr Menon as he gave an update on CDE’s fundraising campaign for the six victims. 

He said the charity has an internal guiding principal on how they disburse money from their Domestic Employees Welfare Fund, but in this case “it is still premature to say how we want to apportion it” as the conditions of each of the victims are still “fluid”.

“Among the injured, if their permanent employment is then affected and they are unable to carry on working, we also have to do quite a bit to ensure they and their dependents are also taken care of,” he said. 

As for the families of the two deceased, he said their family members’ employment there are not permanent. It is likely that the two helpers were sole breadwinners, so there is a need to determine how much long-term assistance to offer their families. 

The daughter of Abigail Leste, the other victim who died from the Lucky Plaza accident, had indicated interest to travel to Singapore. However, as her remains are planned to be repatriated tomorrow (Jan 2), Mr Menon said that it might be better for the daughter to wait for her mother’s remains in the Philippines.

“The relatives there have voiced their opinion that maybe it’s better if we leave the funeral and the remains repatriation arrangements to be done here and the family receives the body over there” he said. 

A wake for Ms Leste was held Tuesday evening. 

Ms Egnal Limbauan, the other injured victim still in hospital, is currently in the high dependency ward, said Mr Menon. Both injured victims are conscious and responsive, but their conditions remain “quite serious”. 

He also confirmed that there were eight people among the group who were together before the car crash, but two of them managed to avoid the collision.