‘Robber’ shoots former Miss KBP: Disc jockey killed

CEBU, Philippines — Marie Alexi Bolongaita was a woman full of life -- to her family, she was a fighter; to her friends, she was an epitome of wit and cheerfulness; to her listeners, she was a bubbly disc jockey.

At 29, she’s no more.

She was discovered bathed in her own blood at the hands of a suspected robber who barged into her duplex apartment yesterday dawn at Sitio Nivel Hills in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

She bore two gunshots to the chest.

The suspect, identified as Reynante Mambiar, 36, resident of Salinas Drive in Barangay Lahug, allegedly made his way into the victim’s residence through the window at the back of the apartment.

According to the Cebu City Police Office Homicide Section and the Investigation and Detective Management Branch, a neighbor, who had heard thuds from the next door, screamed at the suspect after seeing him emerge from the house. The suspect screamed back and reportedly threatened the witness.

But in his hasty attempt to escape using his getaway motorcycle, the suspect left traces of blood on the wall.

Police later concluded that the bloodstains from the suspect were proof that Bolongaita tried to fend for herself with the use of a kitchen knife.

The bladed weapon was found at the crime scene, alongside a .22 revolver with five empty shells and three ammunition.

“As per information by the witness, nagkadugo ang suspect. We found a kitchen knife nga naa puy dugo. But wala may cuts ang victim so it could be nga nanglaban ang biktima,” said IDMB chief Superintendent Ryan Devaras.

After the witness reported the incident, police and local officials, accompanied by the victim’s father Alex Bolongaita, opened the apartment’s front door.

They discovered the body of the victim in a sitting position at the entry way to her room.

Senior Superintendent Joel Doria, CCPO director, said it was highly likely that the victim was shot at close range based on the scale of the wounds.

Doria said as part of the efforts to arrest the suspect, police told nearby hospitals to report to them patients seeking treatment for stab wounds.

“Kasi meron siyang stab wound dito sa balikat, and may laceration sa different parts ng katawan niya. Meron siyang possible gunshot wounds sa mukha,” Doria said.

Mambiar allegedly told hospital personnel he got his wounds from a supposed shooting incident in Barangay Tisa, but a cross-checking by the police revealed there was no shooting alarm in the place.

At 10:40 a.m., police arrived at the hospital where the witness positively identified the suspect.

City Intelligence Branch operatives later traced Mambiar’s residence at Salinas Drive. An aunt there told the police that Mambiar went home with clothes soiled with blood, and confessed he had committed a crime and asked that he be taken to the hospital.

Police recovered a bag and a cellphone possibly owned by the victim.

 A father’s grief

Bolongaita, or “Max” to her family and friends, was crowned Miss KBP (Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas) last year, and represented the organization at the Miss Cebu Press Freedom 2016 where she was eventually declared first-runner up.

Last Saturday, in the absence of the 2016 winner, she turned over the crown to the new Miss Cebu Press Freedom in front of fellow media practitioners. 

She maintained a regular Sunday program over Power FM called Today's Hits and Tomorrow's Classics.

Aside from being a DJ, Bolongaita also worked as a call center agent.

Her father described her a fighter, having overcome toxic goiter after undergoing surgery three months ago.

For a few months, she has been living in the duplex unit bought for her by her mother.

Alex recalled that his daughter was “full of life” as a person and had even planned to visit Taiwan for vacation.

“I’m devastated because she is not just my one and only daughter, she is also my friend,” he said.

Alex expressed his frustration on the country’s criminality problem.

“That is the problem of society, criminality is really a problem. And kita sa media, it’s just statistics and good news stories, but if it hits you wrong, it is devastating. It is painful if you are her father, like me,” said Alex, who is himself a veteran Cebu-based broadcaster.

Condemnation

In a press statement, KBP Chairman Father Roberto Ebisa, SVD condemned the killing.

“We are shocked beyond words. She was just our host for the opening of the KBP Month 2017 few Sundays ago, a task she accomplished with flying colors,” Ebisa said.

“KBP Cebu chapter assures Alex of our support and prayers even as we condemn in the strongest terms possible this crime that shattered the dreams and aspirations of a young, God-fearing, and promising broadcaster,” he added.

Bolongaita’s death adds up to the more than 30 new cases to be investigated by the Presidential Communications Operations Office, co-chair of Presidential Task Force on Media Killings, according to PCOO Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco, who was in Cebu yesterday.

“We are coming in. We will investigate,” Egco said, not discounting the possibility that the motive to the killing may be related to the victim’s work as a DJ.

“We wouldn't know unless we investigate it so that is why kukunin pa rin natin,” he said. — with May B. Miasco (FREEMAN)