Bulacan beauty queen laid to rest as cry for justice rings

FAREWELL Balloons adorn the carriage bearing the casket of Mary Christine Balagtas on Palm Sunday. CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE

CITY OF MALOLOS—Grieving family members, relatives and friends buried former beauty queen, Mary Christine Balagtas, on Palm Sunday at a memorial park in Plaridel town, with the motive of her murder and her assassins still to be known by the police.

Balagtas, 23, a restaurant and management graduate and 2009 Miss La Bulakenya, was shot dead after receiving flowers and chocolates from two men in her home at La Miranda subdivision in Plaridel on Wednesday last week.

Her casket was carried to the memorial park by a carriage drawn by a hearse. It was adorned with pink balloons, trailed by white balloons tied to a long line of vehicles. The burial drew about 500 people.

She was the second and only girl in the family.

Her oldest brother flew home on Friday from Malaysia and was visibly traumatized. Her youngest brother is 17.

Before the casket was lifted to the carriage, Balagtas’ mother, Marilou, wailed: “You killers are heartless, so heartless. I love you very very much my child. I will miss you. Why did the Lord give me a beautiful girl only to take her this way?”

“The funeral of Balagtas did not close this chapter of her short tragic life,” said
Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado, who asked the police to leave no stone unturned in investigating her murder.

On Saturday, Plaridel Mayor Jocell Vistan put up a P100,000 reward for information that would help the police identify the killers. “This really saddened me [and the murder] happened in a private subdivision. I have coordinated with the police and the [National Bureau of Investigation],” Vistan said.

Police said investigators were interviewing witnesses who saw the killers going to and leaving the Balagtas family house. Investigators have also completed sketches of the gunmen. —CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE