DJ Maxi’s wish fulfilled

Brixi Bolongaita, brother of the late Marie Alexi “Maxi” Bolongaita, pours the ashes to a hole where a mango seedling is planted at the back of their mother’s ancestral home in Sibonga town in southern Cebu.
CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO

A part of slain disc jockey, Marie Alexi “Maxi” Bolongaita, will forever stay in the place where she wanted to live and retire — the Ortiz family’s ancestral home in Sibonga, a town 40 kilometers south of Cebu City.

Part of Marie Alexi’s ashes were poured into the ground where a mango seedling is planted.

Relatives said that a mango plant would not only mark the area where her ashes are, but it would also signify Marie Alexi’s sweet and well-lived life.

It was a fulfillment of Marie Alexi’s wish to have her ashes as fertilizer for a plant instead of placing them in a jar and tucking them in a mausoleum.

Family and friends of Marie Alexi said their goodbyes as they poured her ashes into a hole where they later planted a mango tree at the backyard of her mother’s ancestral home in Sibonga town, where a two storey, Victorian-style house that was built in the 1920s stand.

“She really loves this place. She would always tell us that if she gets old, and the time has come for her to retire, she will live here. This is why her mother wanted to have her ashes buried in the backyard,” said Gina Sosas, Maxi’s distant aunt, who also happened to be one of the caretakers of their family’s ancestral house.

It was a small, private ceremony with no more than 20 of Maxi’s friends and relatives, some of them took turns into pouring her ashes on the hole that was dug to plant a mango seedling, which was given by one of her friends, behind the antiquated house.

After planting the mango seedling where Maxi’s ashes were poured, her friends and relatives recited a short poem composed by one of her friends, flew balloons of different colors believed to signify the 29-year-old Miss Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) 2016’s life, and broke open a bottle of wine.

Maxi’s mother, Marives Ortiz, who smashed the wine on a nearby stone, poured the wine in the hole.

Marives Ortiz said that her daughter loved to drink wine.

“Here’s to you, Max,” she said.

A Mass was also held at the Divine Mercy Chapel in Our Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in D. Jakosalem Street, Cebu City, prior to the ceremony in Sibonga.

Sad Christmas

Gina Sosas said that it would be a sad Christmas for them as Marie Alexi was a favorite grandchild of the three elder Ortizes living in the ancestral house, which included Maxi’s grandfather, Santos Ortiz Jr.

“Maxi was fond of them. In turn, they were fond of her, too. Among all Tiyo Santos’ more than 10 grandchildren, it was just Maxi who frequently visits him and his sisters here. And they really loved Maxi, too. She was their favorite grandchild,” Sosas said.

She recalled Marie Alexi’s visits every Christmas and how she would travel for two hours from Cebu City to Sibonga just to visit them on that day and bring gifts for everyone there.

“Maxi has not skipped a Christmas here. She would spend time with us — her grandfather and grandmothers, and give us gifts. She’s the only person that could make this house cheerful every Christmas. Now that she’s gone, we might be celebrating a sad Christmas this year,” said Gina.

Being the first runner-up of Miss Press Freedom 2016, Maxi turned over the crown to this year’s winner, Dezsa Rubio of The Freeman, last September 16. But five days after, on September 21, her life was cut short.

Maxi died in her apartment at Barangay Busay after suffering two gunshot wounds fired by a certain Reynante Mambiar, a suspected thief, who entered into her residence to rob her hours before she died.

Mambiar had been committed to the Cebu City Jail on Thursday after he was discharged from the hospital.

“Nakita namo (last Thursday) nga okay na siya, although, naa pa siyay bandage, but nakalakaw na siya. In fact, wala nakoy nakita nga
He is facing two separate cases of robbery and murder.

Supt. Ryan Devaras, Cebu City Police Office Investigation and Detection Branch chief, said that the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office had elevated the robbery with homicide complaint against Mambiar to robbery and murder.