Girl will have to hold off college ambition after ma’s death day before graduation

RECEIVING my diploma without my mother was the saddest day of my life,” said 16-year-old Divine Revalde in Cebuano.

She said her mother Alicia thought highly of education as this would help her achieve her dreams.

Alicia was killed Tuesday morning in Barangay Capitol Site, Cebu City. Police identified Ronnie Caparida, her live-in partner, as the suspect.

Caparida, 29, is detained in the Cebu City Police Office stockade.

Divine, who graduated from the Mantalungon High School in Dalaguete, wants to pursue a course in hotel and restaurant management. But because of her mother’s death, she said she may have to postpone her plans.

She said she received news of her mother’s death during graduation last Wednesday morning.

Initial reaction

“I thought it was all a joke. But then my uncle told me after graduation that my mother was dead. Still, I won’t believe she’s gone until I see her body with my own eyes,” Divine told Sun.Star Cebu in Cebuano.

She last saw her mother last Sunday when she visited her in the city. She said her mother hadn’t been back to the southern town since Divine was in second year.

“She would have returned for my graduation if she hadn’t died,” Divine said in Cebuano.

She also said the death shocked her father.

Divine’s father and Alicia separated 10 years ago. Her father also has a live-in partner in Dalaguete.

Bad blood

Her older brother, Dennis, 19, only found out about their mother’s death yesterday morning.

He said he never liked Caparida. “He was an unlikable man,” he said.

He said he visited his mother last Saturday, not knowing it would be their last meeting.

“She even told me she would send me back to college,” he said in Cebuano.

Dennis works as a bagger in one of the malls in Mandaue City.

Dennis said Alicia’s body will be taken to Badian, Cebu, but he is not sure when because they don’t have enough money for her burial.

Meanwhile, investigators of the Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office said the autopsy report on Alicia’s body is scheduled for release today.

Police found her body at 9:15 p.m. last Tuesday.

Caparida told them he accidentally pulled the trigger while cleaning the gun around 11:30 a.m. Alicia, he said, was seated next to him. The bullet hit her in the right temple.