Cebuana fairy tale turns into Swedish tragedy

MANILA, Philippines (The Freeman) — Like a scene from a movie, Mailyn “Mai-mai” Sinambong, a timid girl from a small fishing village in northern Cebu, awkwardly placed her arms on her Swedish groom’s shoulders as they did their first dance as husband and wife in front of ecstatic neighbors on June 6, 2009.

More than nine years later, a grim tragedy ended the fairy tale.

Then working as a househelp in the city, Sinambong was 18 years old when she first met Steve Abou-Bakre Aalam by chance.

A naïve girl from Barangay Kawit in Medellin, she found herself lost inside the mall one day and asked help from Aalam, 22 years her senior.

Aalam, an actor-director, had just taken a break from filming in Sweden and worked as a producer in a big film company based in Lapu-Lapu City.

“It was love at first sight,” said Maria Fe Buhayan, 33, when asked to describe the meeting.

Buhayan, Mailyn’s best friend, was maid of honor at the wedding.

Mailyn and Steve became lovers, and she gave birth to their first son a year after their meeting.

According to Buhayan, the two sometimes argued but managed to settle things.

“They quarreled from time to time, but they were more of word fights. Sometimes, the door gets slammed but I did not see them reach a point that they were hurting each other. Yes, they fought, but after a while, they were sweet to each other,” Buhayan said in Cebuano. 

“One time I saw bruises on her arms but I dismissed it. I thought it was normal for a woman who was having her period,” she added. Mailyn, she thought, was suffering from anemia that may have caused the bruises.

Two months after the wedding, the family moved to Sweden. 

Mailyn’s mother, Maria Conde Sinambong, 48, said the man was a caring and loving husband in the beginning. But the quarrels became more frequent.

The mother revealed that in 2011, Mailyn reported her husband to Swedish police authorities for alleged domestic violence, not just against her but also their first son (they have two children). Then again, both were able to settle their issues and got back together.

“I asked her: ‘Are you OK there? Are you being loved?’ She replied: ‘Nothing, Ma.’ She wouldn’t tell me,” Sinambong recalled her conversation with her daughter. 

Angelo Monato, 24, Mailyn’s younger brother, said his sister never mentioned anything bad about Aalam and their marriage.

He had always pictured his sister as happily married to Steve.

But their mother suspected that the couple was not on good terms, especially when she found out that Aalam left Mailyn confined alone in a hospital last month. Mailyn had lupus.

To cheer Mailyn up, the mother made sure to communicate with her daughter via video chat online. The last one was on Sept. 23, Sunday, the day when Mailyn was discharged from the hospital.

“She grew morbid. She told me that no matter what happens, she loves me. ‘I love you so much, Ma.’ But I would cut her short. I told her not to say bad things like that. But she said she could not bear the pain anymore,” said the mother. 

However, Mailyn abruptly ended the conversation and promised to do a video chat with her.

Mailyn never called again

“She never called back. I was waiting. I had been calling her, but there was no response,” the mother said, wiping her tears. 

On the same day, Angelo received a message from a certain Leonor, a Filipina neighbor of the Aalam family in Stockholm, Sweden, informing them that Mailyn had been killed by her husband on Sunday night.

The Philippine embassy confirmed the tragic news.

Details of her murder remain unclear, but it was believed she died of choking.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), in a statement, said the husband admitted to the killing.

Despite the admission, the family is still crying for justice. 

Aside from bringing home the remains of the victim, the family also wants full custody of the two children of Mailyn, ages nine and four, who are now temporarily in the hands of the Swedish government.

Migrante Central Visayas, which arranged a press conference yesterday where Mailyn’s relatives were present, was hoping for a positive response to the requests.

Connie Regalado, regional coordinator of Migrante Central Visayas, admitted the process can be difficult since the two children are now part of the ongoing investigation as both allegedly saw the incident.

On Monday, Consul General Ma. Elena Algabre said she will be assisting the Norway-based maternal aunt of Mailyn in making arrangements for the repatriation of her remains and in gathering more information about her death from police authorities. 

Algabre will also talk to the lawyer appointed by the Swedish government to handle the murder case against Mailyn’s husband, who has been taken into police custody.

The Philippine embassy in Oslo, in coordination with Filipino priests and the Filipino community in Stockholm, had organized a memorial mass for Sinambong to be held at the Heliga Trefaldighets Catholic Church in Järfällavägen on Tuesday. 

The DFA had earlier assured Sinambong’s family in the Philippines that the DFA will assist in the repatriation of her remains and in obtaining justice for her death. – With Pia Lee-Brago