Dad of killed teens in Ayala Alabang crash posts message on Facebook; Magazine posts reminders

From topgear.com.ph:

By Vernon B. Sarne

By now, you may have already heard about the car crash in Ayala Alabang at around 4am last Saturday, May 19, involving four male teenagers riding a black Hyundai Elantra that reportedly hit a post inside the posh village. All four passengers–aged 14, 15, 16 and 18, according to reports–were killed in the accident.

Two of the victims were brothers: Joshua and Timothy Syyap. You can’t possibly imagine the kind of grief their parents are now dealing with, losing two sons in one fell swoop. But the father, Vince Syyap, a Christian, offers friends and relatives an insight into his own feelings by posting the following message on his Facebook wall:

Tim & Josh, my amigos, my pride and joy. How I wish I can tell you how proud I am and how much I love you just one more time. It hurts so much knowing that I have to wait to get to heaven before I see you again. I will always love you guys and always be proud to have you as my amigos. Will miss you so much – Dad

It’s heart-rending to say the least. Even parents will not be able to comprehend the despondency of it all. It’s one thing to lose a child–it’s quite another to lose two at the same time, both of whom not even reaching adulthood.

We’re sharing this message to reach out to the young ones who visit this website. We hope that this will somehow give you an idea on the kind of misery you will subject your parents to if something bad happens to you on the road. We are not saying that what happened to the Syyap boys involved any of the following points, but our young readers would do well to take note of these:

* Never use the family car without your parents’ knowledge and permission;

* For that matter, never drive a car if you’re not old enough to do so;

* If you ask permission to drive the car and your parents say no, better do as they say;

* Never use a car for joyride purposes;

* Never use a car to show off to your friends;

* When your parents ask you to drive back home, make sure you do so immediately; and

* Most important, never operate a motor vehicle if you’ve taken alcohol.

Again, the above points are totally unrelated to the Syyap incident. We just want to remind the young readers of this site about the perils of driving a car at their age, as well as the anguish their parents would feel should they (our teenaged readers) get involved in an accident.