Slain UST grad wanted family to see the world

MANILA, Philippines - The mother of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) graduate who was killed by two men last Wednesday in Bacoor, Cavite said her daughter had been dreaming of sending their family abroad for travel.

“She was so persistent in finishing her College of Tourism and Hospitality Management course in UST to become a flight attendant someday and bring us to different countries as her treat to her parents and siblings,” Milagros Magalang said.

She said Cyrish was a good daughter, sister and friend who wanted to give her family a better life.

Cyrish graduated cum laude last March. She was 20 when she died, the youngest of four siblings. The other three are Jomil, 27; Catherine, 31; and Cherylyn, 33.

Milagros said Cyrish promised that she would not get into a relationship until she graduated and fulfilled her dream of becoming a stewardess.

She stayed in her aunt’s apartment in Sampaloc near UST during school days and after graduation returned to Bacoor to work for SM as guest services assistant for a month and a half.

Milagros lamented the hardship her daughter went through to finish college, which ended in her senseless killing.

Cherylyn, the eldest of Magalang’s siblings and the closest to Cyrish, said her sister shouldn’t have stopped to buy puto bumbong for her family because it cost her her life.

Cyrish bought her pasalubong near the tricycle terminal before she was snatched by the suspects before midnight of Oct. 31, 2012.

The suspects were identified as brothers Rolin, 27, a vegetable vendor and Roel Gacita, 24, a tricycle driver, both residents of Bacoor. They are now detained at the Bacoor City Jail.

Cavite Provincial Director Senior Superintendent John Bulalacao said the Gacita brothers were arrested one after the other at their residence on Friday.

Rolin admitted stabbing Magalang with a screwdriver 49 times in different parts of the body but denied raping her.

He also admitted hitting Magalang’s head with a rock.

Cyrish will be buried at 3 p.m. on Tuesday at Golden Heaven Memorial Park in Las Piñas City.

Meanwhile, 31 Calabarzon policemen led by Chief Superintendent James Melad, Bulalacao, Cavite police director and Police Superintendent Romano Cardiño will be cited today in Camp Vicente Lim, Laguna for solving the gruesome murder.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption will personally award the citation to Cardiño.

The others awardees will gets citations for the killing of six suspected hijackers, including three policemen, last Oct. 4 in Dasmariñas, Cavite. – Ed Amoroso