Maxi to be cremated

Radio broadcaster Alex Bolongaita (right) reveals funeral plans at the wake of her murdered daughter, Marie Alexi “Maxi” Bolongaita. Alex Bolongaita said the family would cremate the remains of her daughter on September 27.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

A part of Marie Alexi “Maxi” Bolongaita, the 29-year-old disc jockey and call center agent who was killed by a robber inside her house in Sitio Nivel Hills, Barangay Busay, Cebu City on Thursday, will forever be in the Bolongaitas’ ancestral house in Sibonga town in southern Cebu.

Alex Bolongaita, the father of Marie Alexi, said that they decided to cremate the remains of their daughter and scatter a part of her ashes at the family’s ancestral home where she grew up in Sibonga, a southern town 56.1 km from Cebu City.

Alex Bolongaita said that they plan to cremate Marie Alexi’s remains on September 27.

A Mass for Marie Alexi will be celebrated at noon before the cremation that day.

“On the third day, kay dalhon iyang ash sa Sibonga sa ancestral home ug naay tree i-plant nga butangan sa ash ni Maxi pero dili ang tanan (but not everything),” Alex said.

(On the third day after the cremation, we will bring some of her ashes to Sibonga at the ancestral home where we will plant a tree where her ashes will be scattered.)

The remaining half of Marie Alexi’s ashes will be brought back by her mother to the United States of America.

Marie Alexi’s mother, Maria Ortiz, who is now living in the US, arrived on Friday in Cebu.

Alex Bolongaita said that his wife gave the house as a gift to Marie Alexi five months ago.

Bolongaita said that now his wife had decided to sell the house after what happened.

“Her mother is going to sell the house,” said Bolongaita about the duplex house where her daughter had lived for five months.

Bolongaita said her daughter has a resemblance with her mother in looks, her likes in food and travel.

“They both love to eat food. All kinds of food preparations from different cultures they have tried it out. And they are both adventurous,” he said.

He also said that his daughter, being a traveler, was already scheduled to travel to Taiwan next month.

For Ortiz, it was a sad homecoming as she last saw her daughter alive during her 29th birthday last July.

Ortiz returned to Cebu from the US for that occasion.

Ortiz refused to give any statement.

Bolongaita said that he was glad that the police had done a good job in and catching the suspect, Reynante Mambiar, in her daughter’s murder.

The wounded Mambiar was traced by police in a Cebu City hospital. This was a few hours after Marie Alexi’s body was found inside her house.

The police said that the suspect suffered stab and gunshot wounds because Marie Alexi resisted him during the robbery.

The police said it was likely that Maxi fought back and even grappled for possession of the robber’s gun, which also explained the stab and gunshot wounds suffered by Mambiar.

“I am glad my daughter was able to inflict pain to the suspect, and it caused early solution to the crime because of the wound,” Bolongaita said.

Meanwhile, Supt. Ryan Devaras, Cebu City Police Office Investigation and Detection Management Branch chief, is calling on victims of robberies in the city especially in the Barangay Busay area to come forward, identify Mambiar, and file a case if they believed he was the one who robbed them.

Devaras made the call after CCPO looked into the background of the suspect, whom Devaras described as a “notorious akyat bahay” or a robber who climbs houses to gain entry into their homes to steal.

“He is a notorious ‘akyat-bahay.’ He is one of the suspects of the series break-ins in Barangay Busay,” Devaras said.

Devaras claimed that barangay officials in Busay informed him that there were a series of break-ins in the barangay with Mambiar fitting the description of one of the suspects in these crimes.

Devaras said they are also looking into Mambiar’s possible links in the illegal drug trade especially since the suspect was arrested for illegal drugs last August 29.

Mambiar is still confined in the hospital because of his wounds and is being guarded by police, said Devaras.

Police are also planning to file charges against the suspect on Monday.