BELASA
One of the two sisters earlier attacked with a bolo by a male house guest in a subdivision in Taytay, Rizal province, died of her wounds early Friday, as their grieving family appealed to the public to help the police track down the killer.
Mary Catherine Gino-Oliveros, 27, died around 4 a.m. at Manila East Medical Center due to severe bleeding from the hack wounds she sustained in the early hours of Feb. 13, when she tried to protect her older sibling Mary Christine Gino from Richard Belasa.
Taytay police chief Supt. Danilo Bacas said murder and frustrated murder charges were filed Friday against Belasa, who remained at large. He said a team went to an address given by the sisters’ family members to look for Belasa in Quezon City, but there was no one in the house when the police got there.
Catherine was survived by husband Mark Oliveros and their 8-month-old daughter. The couple worked as bank advisers for a call center.
Christine, 31, was declared in stable condition two days after the incident that took place shortly after midnight Wednesday at their house in Palmera II Subdivision. Investigators, however, have yet to talk to her.
An earlier Inquirer report had the police describing Belasa as Christine’s boyfriend, but her brother Jonathan maintained that the suspect was still courting his sister. Also, the injuries sustained by the two sisters were more of hack wounds, not stab wounds as earlier reported.
An investigation showed that Christine and Belasa arrived at the house before midnight, after which they were heard having an argument in the living room. Police initially gathered that Belasa had a jealous fit as he suspected her of seeing another man.
The argument turned violent when Belasa was able to take hold of a bolo which the Ginos reportedly kept in that part of the house as a weapon against intruders.
One of the three house helpers recalled hearing Christine shouting “Buboy, Buboy! No!’ and later seeing Catherine trying to protect her sister from Belasa. The helper then rushed upstairs in panic and hid with the other maids in their room.
When the helper went out minutes later, she found the sisters wounded and Belasa already gone.
In separate interviews, Catherine’s husband Mark Oliveros and her brother Jonathan said they didn’t know much about Belasa, who was only introduced to them this year.
“I only met him last month, twice. Both meetings were just ‘hi-hello.’ He’s new to us,” Oliveros said.
“We appeal to anyone who knows him to please contact the police and help them track him down. He must be brought to justice for the innocent life he took,” he said.