Murder ends girl’s wish to seek father’s pardon

DAGUPAN CITY — She wan—ted to go home this Christmas to ask forgiveness from her father for eloping with her boyfriend last May. Her wish though can no longer be fulfilled: she was raped, murdered and her body burned allegedly by a relative of her boyfriend last Monday.

Aberdeen Pasion, 22, was supposed to graduate from Compu—tronix College here with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Computer Science last October. But she ran away with her boyfriend of two years, Loui Ramos, a 22-year-old farmer of Barangay Malamig, Bustos, Bulacan.

When she left home in Malued district here, she sent a text message to her stepmother. "Tita Lorna, pasensiya na kayo sa ginawa ko. Alam ko galit na galit kayo sa akin. Ok lang ako. Sorry po. Patawarin nyo ako (Tita Lorna, please understand me. I know you are mad at me. I’m okay. Sorry, please forgive me)," the message read.

Her father Ruel, 44, said he was ready to forgive her daughter. In fact, he searched for her in Bulacan two weeks ago.

"Tinanggap ko na ganun ang kapalaran ng anak ko. Yang pagma—mahal, wala tayong laban dyan. Para akong maloloko sa nangyari sa kanya (I have accepted her fate. We cannot really fight love. I feel like going insane with what befell her)," said the teary-eyed father.

Father’s ire

Ruel admitted that he was fuming mad when he discovered her daughter’s love affair with Loui. But he clarified that he did not look down on Loui who reached only Grade 2, but was enraged because Aberdeen stopped her schooling.

In one instance, he slapped her and tore her clothes when he came across Loui’s letter promising to get her one day.

The night she was killed, Loui recalled that Aberdeen was extra sweet to him, kissing him as they rode a tricycle.

"Sayang, di na ko makakakanta (It’s a pity I cannot sing anymore)," she said. Asked why, she kept quiet. Their theme song was Ikaw Lang ang Mamahalin, also the title of a popular TV soap opera.

Last Monday, the lovers went to a videoke bar which a relative of Loui owns in Angat, Bulacan. In the bar too was suspect Joseph Canetes, 37, another relative of Loui.

At about 5:30 p.m., Aberdeen asked to leave, riding a tricycle which Canetes drove. She was with a certain Bea Peroche and the latter’s four-year-old daughter.

They went to a house about 200 meters away from the videoke bar. Peroche alighted to get the pair of shoes she was lending Aberdeen while hunting for a job. Aberdeen wanted to earn and save money for her transport fare back to Dagupan.

Canetes reportedly took his chance and brought Aberdeen to a ricefield. Three hours later, a burning object in the middle of the farm caught a passerby’s attention. It turned out to be Aberdeen’s body on fire. Her face was smashed with a huge stone, almost beyond recognition.

Canetes was nowhere to be found. He is believed to be hiding in Batangas, Cavite or Samar. Police have filed charges against him.