It says the festival will focus on reflection and communal healing and will be held at the Italian Cultural Centre instead of on Fraser Street, where last year\u2019s tragedy occurred.<\/p>\n
But some from Metro Vancouver\u2019s Filipino community say the trauma remains fresh.<\/p>\n
On April 26 last year, a vehicle plowed down a crowded street of festival goers. Adam Kai-Ji Lo is charged with 11 counts of second-degree murder and 31 counts of attempted murder.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disrespectful for us if they do it again, not even a year later,\u201d said Val De La Cruz, who was injured in the attack while attending the festival with his wife and their two young children.<\/p>\n
De La Cruz was carrying his two-year-old son when the vehicle drove into the crowd near John Oliver Secondary School. He was knocked unconscious, injured his arm and required surgery.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773613278_555_default.jpg\")
Val De La Cruz attended the 2025 festival with his wife and their two toddlers, a girl and a boy. He and his spouse and their boy were injured at the car-ramming attack. (CBC)<\/p>\n
He says his son suffered a concussion and is still recovering from the trauma he endured.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time he sees a car, he\u2019s hugging me and running, thinking there\u2019s a car behind us,” he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not ready for that. We\u2019re still in trauma.”<\/p>\n
De La Cruz is still undergoing physiotherapy and remains largely unable to work.<\/p>\n
Petition calls for pause<\/p>\n
More than 1,200 people have now signed an online petition calling on organizers to postpone the 2026 event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s way too soon,\u201d said Roan Hidalgo, who started the petition. \u201cMost of us in the community are still grieving.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says the community needs more time before returning to large public celebrations.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Some oppose the 2026 edition of Lapu-Lapu Day festival:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773613278_444_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Some survivors, community members oppose 2026 edition of Lapu-Lapu Day festival<\/p>\n
It’s been almost a year since the deadly attack at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival in Vancouver. Filipino B.C. has announced a new event this April, but as the CBC’s Baneet Braich reports, some victims and Filipino community members say it’s too soon.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Filipino B.C. said it recognizes that not everyone feels ready for a gathering this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone experiences grief and healing in their own way, on their own time,\u201d the organization said. \u201cWe understand that some individuals feel it may be too soon to hold a gathering this year. \u201d<\/p>\n
But it added that many community members have also expressed support for coming together again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also been deeply encouraged by the overwhelming positive response from community members who wish to come together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers say this year\u2019s event will include time for reflection and remembrance in the morning before shifting later in the day toward arts and cultural expressions.<\/p>\n
Questions about donations<\/p>\n
Alongside concerns about the timing of the event, some community organizations are also raising questions about donations collected after the tragedy.<\/p>\n
The Kapwa Strong Fund, launched by United Way B.C. to support recovery efforts, has raised more than $1.6 million, according to a February 2026 report.<\/p>\n
About $1.5 million has already been distributed through 45 grants to 36 community organizations providing mental health services and trauma recovery programs.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Lapu-Lapu festival survivor recovering:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773613279_147_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Lapu Lapu Festival survivor recovering one month after tragedy<\/p>\n
This week, the man charged with murder in the Lapu Lapu Day festival tragedy, makes his next court appearance. It\u2019s been one month since 11 people were killed and more injured, when a car rammed through the street festival in East Vancouver. Christi-Ann Watkins was among those injured. BC Today host Michelle Eliot met with Christi-Ann at her home in Vancouver.<\/p>\n
Those programs include clinical counselling, peer support groups, healing circles and art therapies, among others.<\/p>\n
United Way says the funds raised provided support for community-based programs and services that address longer-term healing and recovery needs identified by community leaders.<\/p>\n
The organization says it raised approximately $450,000 for Filipino B.C., as directed by donors.<\/p>\n
In a joint statement, survivors and some Filipino community organizations say they are calling for greater transparency from Filipino B.C. <\/p>\n
WATCH | Filipino B.C. chair says Lapu-Lapu Day victims need more government aid:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773289930_915_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Filipino B.C. chair says Lapu-Lapu Day victims need more government aid<\/p>\n
The chair of Filipino B.C., RJ Aquino, is calling for more government support for the victims of Vancouver’s Lapu-Lapu Day festival tragedy. He said survivors and victims’ families are still struggling six months after the killings. <\/p>\n
De La Cruz says his family has not received the support they expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil Filipino B.C. is able to explain what happened to the donations, I don\u2019t think they should be organizing another Lapu-Lapu Day,\u201d he said in the statement.<\/p>\n
United Filipino Canadian Associations in B.C. is also urging more clarity around the funds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe money that will be spent to hold another festival a year after the tragedy would be wiser to spend to benefit the victims directly,\u201d said Arcie Lim, president of the organization.<\/p>\n
CBC News has reached out to Filipino B.C. for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Calls for a quieter commemoration<\/p>\n
Lailani Tumaneng, a registered nurse who volunteered at the 2025 festival, said Filipino traditions typically observe a one-year mourning period.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our culture, we have what we call babang luksa, the end of mourning after one year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She supports a planned remembrance dinner in Vancouver happening on April 12, organized by the Lapu-Lapu Society of B.C., saying it offers a more reflective way for the community to mark the anniversary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has to be calm and quiet,\u201d Tumaneng said. \u201cNot festivities, concerts and selling stuff. It has to be a mass and a gathering where people can just talk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some survivors of the Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy say it\u2019s not the right time for the cultural event to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-538839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}