A Filipina staff of the United Nations International Children's Education Fund (Unicef) was among the 11 people killed in a hotel bombing in Pakistan Tuesday night, the Unicef office in Manila and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Wednesday. In a press statement, the Unicef identified the dead Filipina as Perseveranda So, 52 years old who has worked for the Unicef since 1994. So, who was working on educational programs for girls, was among the UN workers billeted at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Pakistan's northwest frontier province of Peshawar when the bombing happened at about 10 P.M. Tuesday, the statement said. “She was in Peshawar, a dangerous and difficult environment, helping implement programs to assist girls in gaining access to the education they so desperately need,” said Unicef Executive Director Ann M. Veneman in a statement. “She was a dedicated and highly committed staff member, who worked with grace and determination as chief of education in Pakistan, earning the respect and admiration of all those with whom she came into contact,” she said. “She will be greatly missed by her colleagues at Unicef. Our hearts go out to her family and friends, in her home country of the Philippines and around the world, who share our loss.” An Associated Press report quoted police as saying three men in a pickup truck approached the hotel's main gate while night life was in full swing, opened fire at security guards, drove inside and detonated the bomb close to the building. Another UN staff member, 44-year-old Aleksandar Vorkapic, was also killed in the blast while 70 other people were injured, officials said. “At the time of the bombing, the hotel was housing many humanitarian workers there to provide life-saving assistance to Pakistan's most vulnerable people. This is an attack on the very humanitarian principles to which Persy was dedicated, and it is reprehensible and unacceptable,” she said. Vanessa Tobin, Unicef country representative in the Philippines, described So as “a passionate worker who dedicated her life to the promotion of a child's right to education” not only in Pakistan but also in her home country. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said the Philippine government “condemns in the strongest possible terms” the killing of So and the 10 other people.
