Here is my DBWI testimony to that day of myself on this timeline. BTW, I am sticking true to events that personally happened to me prior and after the POD
"I started getting interested in politics or world events since 2012 but it was in 2013 where I started reading or watching the news. Prior to entering college during my last days of high school the previous year, I was watching the news of the Korean Peninsula Crisis and the
Boston Marathon bombings and manhunt. Then when I entered college, big headlines around the country and the world were made. First, it was the
Pork Barrel scam and the
Ghouta Chemical attacks in Syria in August 2013. I remember anxiously watching if the U.S., the UK, France, and their Arab Allies would intervene against the Syrian Arab Republic, which the Russian Federation eventually called bluff. Then on September, the
Zamboanga City siege occurred which lasted for roughly three weeks. A month later, on October 15th, 2013, a
7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Bohol. I was in Bohol that morning and I remember correctly where I was in the
Bohol Tropics Resort in
Tagbilaran City. Three weeks later, on November 8th, 2013,
Typhoon Haiyan (Local:
Yolanda) hit the provinces of Samar, Leyte, northern Cebu (plus the Camotes Islands), Panay, Mindoro, and Palawan. Tacloban City was affected badly as I saw on the news. I would never forget the heartbreaking photos seeing destroyed houses, dead bodies on the streets, the long lines into relief centers, foreign militaries coming to the aid, and more. I remember Obama promising help to arrive as soon as possible. The first help came in the form of U.S. Marines based on Okinawa. Second semester of SY 2013-2014 began and I remember seeing several C-130s and C-17s fly over Cebu as more relief came pouring to the country. The pressence of the USS
George Washington and China's PLA-N hospital ship known as the
Peace Ark were most memorable of them all. It came to a heartbreak when we knew
Fast and the Furious actor Paul Walker met a fatal accident as he did a charity run for the victims of Haiyan, which was followed by the death of Nelson Mandela a few days later.
When 2014 came, I remember watching the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine erupt into their President running away from the country followd by the Crimean Crisis in which "little green men" seized Ukrainian military bases. For the first time, we millenials got a glimpse of a "
second Cold War" brewing up in Europe. A month later, Malaysia Airlines MH370 would disappear enroute from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. The disappearance of a plane in modern times baffled the world as it was merely impossible to happen. My friends and I followed the news of the plane for roughly two months now...to no luck. Then came our finals before our Summer 2014 officially began on March 27th, 2014.
Two days later, the Philippine government successfully resupplied our Philippine Marine Outpost located within the rusty LST BRP Sierra Madre at the Second Thomas Shoal at the middle of the Spratly Islands where China Coast Guard vessels lurked. It was a beholden sight seeing a smaller boat getting challenged by a bigger boat. I would spend the next few weeks going to the beach and celebrating the Holy Week with my relatives.
Monday, April 28th, 2014 was a historical day in the Philippines because it marked the first time in 11 years since a U.S. President visited a country. That was back then with George W. Bush in October 2003. I was still seven that time and didn't really care about politics or world affairs. Now I am 17 turning 18 this September 4th. During that time, I was currently 1 month into the summer after my freshman year in college which was an eventful school year full of headlines. At that time, my family and I just came back from Bohol (we revisited the province six months after the earthquake). The city of Lapu-Lapu just celebrated the festivities of the Battle of Mactan while a schoolmate of mine from my high school named Vanessa was joining Miss Teen Earth Philippines. She was currently in NAIA the same time Air Force One landed. I remember jokingly asking her if she saw it but unfortunately she didn't. It was a very hot summer afternoon and I was glued to the TV watching the State Visit of Obama has the presidential limo entered the Malacanang. I was taking pictures of the TV on my iPad and also tweeting at the same time when the unexpected happened. Obama had been shot. I remember that moment all social media went wild. All my friends and most of my followers posted about it. We prayed for his safety but the bad news hit us that night that Obama had died. I was shocked. The entire nation was shocked. The world was shocked. VP Joe Biden was then sworn in as the 45th President of the United States
The next two days were awash with repeated broadcasts of the Obama assassination. On April 30th, I visited my old high school on their last-day-of-school and everyone was talking about it. Instead of festive mood, most of the talk of the day was about Obama. I visited the outgoing batch of 2014 since their graduation was the following day (May 1st) and all of them were still shaken by the news. I couldn't blame them. So was I. That night, I attended my neighbor's 15th birthday party and while we did talk about the upcoming movies for this year and other stuff while also playing GTA V on the Xbox 360, the topic would inadvertently switch to the infamous incident.
A week later, on May 9th, 2014, my family and I went to the United States to visit our relatives in Michigan. The political atmosphere was really tense. Upon arrival in Detroit Metropolitan Airport, most Asians and POCs were subject to intense questioning by the CBP officials. My family and I were the last ones in that line unfortunately so the immigration official also subjected us to a search before we were cleared and given entry to America
[1]. Of course I was happy to go have entered the USA but the atmosphere was just so different. A President was assassinated a week before and now there was a new President in the White House. During dinner that night with my relatives and cousins, the Obama assassination was brought once again just like it was throughout the trip. From May 9th-28th, my relatives and I visited various states including by driving through the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida before flying to New York then back to Michigan. We returned back to the Philippines on the 28th. Life went on as usual. The vacation ended,
my friend Vanessa won Miss Teen Earth Philippines for this year (I was supporting her 12 hours prior when I was still in Detroit Metropolitan Airport and then I arrived in Tokyo for the connecting flight back to Cebu when the pageant began. I would know she won when I arrived back in Cebu around 11:00 PM and I was just so tired from the trip). Then I realized summer was about to end and second year college was going to begin in less than two weeks. As I said, life went on a month after the assassination. My brother and I bought a PS4 on the 31st along with Ubisoft's new game known as
Watch_Dogs. Currently, I am just making the most of my remaining days of my summer. It began as fun but mid-way the shocking event happened that would forever change my perception of the world and this decade. I can never forget seeing an American President being shot on live TV. For my generation, it served as our JFK moment. I will forever carry this on throughout my lifetime."
Author's Notes:
[1] Yes this did happen in RL. We were the last one on the foreign nationals line and we were subjected to secondary search after intense questioning by the CBP. They cleared us later after search was complete. I figured in this timeline, the CBP at all ports-of-entry would be more suspicious and aggressive towards Filipinos and Southeast Asians in general since Obama was assassinated just a week before.