Twenty-seven-year-old Jendhel Sico was one of the 11 people killed in the car-ramming attack at a Filipino festival on April 26, 2025. While she is gone, her family ensure she is never forgotten.
Her father, Rodel Sico, took his shirt off and showed OMNI News the tattoos he got on his body after he lost his eldest daughter to the Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy in Vancouver.
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“I think my reason is to see her all the time,” Rodel said.
“Anywhere I go, she’s with me”.
Rodel and his daughter would go fishing twice a year. They loved the outdoors. But those are now only memories, inked on Rodel’s body.
“She caught this salmon last year. I took a picture of her,” Rodel said, showing the artwork.
“This was also last year…when we did the Grouse Grind, and we reached the top of the mountain.”
Both feature Jendhel’s face beaming with a smile.
On Rodel’s arm is an image of a letter Jendhel gave him on his birthday. It reads: “Pa, another year around the sun with many more to come. Love you forever.”
Placed near where his heart is, Rodel also has Jendhel’s handprint, which he asked the funeral home to copy for him.
On weekends, Rodel and his wife, Jonna De Guzman, would spend time at their daughter’s gravesite.
“It’s a big change for us,” De Guzman said.
De Guzman said gatherings are no longer the same. Jendhel used to plan and organize family get-togethers.
“It feels empty. It feels like we’re all gathering together, but the room is still empty”, said an emotional De Guzman.
“She’s not just a daughter. She’s my best friend.”
Just like Rodel, De Guzman had her first-ever tattoo placed on her right arm. It reads, “Love you, Ate,” —the Filipino word for eldest daughter or sister.
Maydhel, Jendhel’s younger sister, has now taken on her ate’s passion for crocheting.
She showed OMNI News the hat she made to match the rainbow-coloured sweater that Jendhel once created.
“There are big shoes to fill,” Maydhel said. “Huge shoes to fill.”
“She always talked about spending every day to the fullest, not to let anything go to waste.”
“I’ve been with Jendhel since high school, [I was in] Grade 12, she’s in Grade 11”, said 29-year-old Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy survivor Blaine Redlac.
Jendhel Sico and Redlac had been living together for 11 years.
Together, they loved the outdoors and especially gardening.
Sico and Redlac were together during the attack. The driver struck Redlac on his right leg, leaving him bedridden for months.
He refused to say the words, “Lapu-Lapu.”
“It just brings up violence,” Redlac said.
Music has helped him cope with the loss of Sico. He said he plays the piano and the guitar, and sings a lot. He has written original songs for Sico, to whom he planned to propose last year.
“The comfort that I only had in my life was my spouse,” said Redlac.
As the anniversary of the tragedy on April 26 nears, Redlac says there’s only one place he will be: at Jendhel’s grave, with her family.
