Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Ma hurt by how daughter is portrayed
APART from the grisly death of Maria Eva Mae Peligro, another thing that hurts her mother, Aida, is the way her daughter is being portrayed by the suspect.
“Nakaila ko sa akong mga anak. Dili gyud na siya ingon ana. Wala nako siya tudlo-i nga magdumot ug tawo (I know my daughter. She isn’t like that. She isn’t one to hold grudges.),” Aida told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
Richard Gudelosao, one of three persons arrested for the grisly killing of Mae and her cousin Gwendolyn Balasta, claimed that Mae kept telling Gudelosao’s mother about what was going on in the house. Richard said he got scolded for it.
Aida’s family has prevented her from reading the papers, seeing Mae’s remains and talking to Gudelosao and his accomplices, Jean Antonette Medalle and Jojo delos Reyes.
Aida, 48, said her daughter was not the type who would look for trouble.
Mae’s sister Grace said Mae remained in the house because her fiancé Felix, who is Richard’s brother, bought it for them. It would have been their future house had they not decided to sell it so Mae could migrate to the United States with Felix.
Aida also said that Balasta, her niece, was not employed as helper but went with Peligro to Cebu to look for a job.
Grace and her husband Joshua said Felix denied he told Gudelosao to leave the house.
Joshua quoted Felix as saying that he consoled with Richard and promised to give him money so he could start anew. Felix was planning to sell the house.
It was Felix who first alerted Mae’s family that something was wrong.
Grace said the last time she and Aida communicated with Mae was at 1 p.m. Thursday, two hours before she was killed.
But it was while she suddenly stopped chatting with Felix in California without finishing a sentence that got Felix worried.
When he still didn’t hear from her the next day, he called the guard house in Azienda Firenze and called Grace that something was wrong. He kept calling her two cellular phones but she did not answer.
Joshua and Grace went to the house Friday but it was empty.
Joshua said he always suspected something was wrong with Richard but Mae was complacent and thought of him as a brother.
When Grace was able to confirm that the chopped body was that of Mae and Balasta, she called Felix.
“What do you mean? Oh my God, I knew it,” Grace quoted Felix as saying.
Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Carmelo Valmoria has commended the Minglanilla Police for their efforts and plans to recommend the awarding of a medal to Senior Insp. Romeo Santander and the police officers who worked on the case.
“Just a few hours after the case was solved. The chopped up bodies were dumped in different areas but he (Santander) was able to piece together the puzzle that led to the solution of the case,” Valmoria said.
Chief Supt. Ronald Roderos, for his part, congratulated Santander and is requesting the CPPO to submit an after-operation and after-investigation report as basis for rewards.
Mae’s family also said Minglanilla policemen were very warm to them and that the way the police treated them kept them strong throughout the whole ordeal.
To ensure an airtight case, Valmoria said they were looking for a lawyer to be present to take down the extra judicial confession of Gudelosao and delos Reyes.
Although the two admitted their crime before the media and there are witnesses who can corroborate their statements, Valmoria said they have experienced with cases where arrested persons who admitted to the crime would retract upon the advise of their lawyers.
Also yesterday, a left leg was found being chewed on by four dogs in Camp 5, Barangay Manipis, Talisay City at 11:45 a.m.
Manipis Barangay Captailm Joselito Laurente was informed by residents that the body part was found in a forty-meter deep ravine.
Police were able to recover the leg at 1 p.m.
Mae’s family are hoping to recover all the body parts and take her and Balasta’s remains back to their hometown in Sierra-Bullones, Bohol.
Felix and his parents are also reportedly planning to come to Cebu. (MEA)
