Juanita Tamayo, whose finger was blown off, responded. She climbed up from the stairwell landing and pulled Cojuangco closer to his son-in-law. Aquino begged for water, and she gave him some, which he gulped despite his father-in-law’s warning that it was dangerous to do so with chest wounds. “I preferred death,” Aquino later said, “rather than suffer thirst.” Asela asked for water, which she drank, and soon thereafter she died; so, too, did Aquino’s maid, Fortunata. Aquino tried to sit up but fainted. He tried two more times and each time passed out. “I wanted to faint because I found out
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