Danica Rose Eroyla, 22, was found dead inside an inn in Cebu City on Jan. 7, 2018, with her partner Ely Malagum, 65, who her family believed shot her before he killed himself. / Photo from Eroyla’s Facebook page used with the permission of her family.
Mercy Labrador , 39, never imagined that she would lose her half-sister, whom she raised for over 20 years and treated like her daughter, to what she believed was a “love that has gone wrong.”
Labrador’s sister, Danica Rose Eroyla, 22, was found dead inside an inn at the downtown area in Cebu City on Monday night. Labrador confirmed that 65-year-old Ely Malagum, who was also found dead beside Eroyla inside the inn’s room, was her sister’s common-law partner for almost four years now.
Labrador said she was convinced that Malagum killed Eroyla before shooting himself.
“Wala ko kahibawo kung unsa pod ang huna-huna sa laki. Tingali suicide gyod to iyaha unya naamong lang akong manghud. Wa man gud ta kahibaw basin naay giselosan o unsa unya edaran na baya siya unya bata pa akong manghud,” Labrador told CDN Digital in an interview on Tuesday afternoon.
(I don’t know what the man was thinking. He probably committed suicide and my sister was just an unfortunate victim. He might be jealous of someone, which could happen since he was old and my sister was young.)
Labrador said her sister was 18 years old when she met Malagum in Makati City when she worked in a restaurant there four years ago. It was after that the couple began their May-December relationship.
Eroyla came back to Cebu in December 2017 and lived with Labrador’s family in Guizo, Mandaue City. But Eroyla relied on Malagum for all her financial needs. Malagum would also regularly come to visit Eroyla in Cebu.
“Dili pod ko kaingon nga maltratohon siya sa lalaki kay pinangga man siya kaayo. Atimanon man gyud siya,” said Labrador.
(I can’t say that she was maltreated because he doted on her. He took care of my sister.)
However, the man continued to be a stranger to them despite the length of the relationship her sister had with him. In fact, she said, she never had a chance to meet Malagum since every time he was in Cebu, her sister would just go and see him in a pension house and she would only return home after she had left for Manila.
“Dili man gyod na siya moadto sa amoa. Ang akong manghud ra ang adto sa pension house unya mouli ra sad na akong manghud kung molarga na og balik sa Manila ang lalaki. Wa pa gyud ko kahimamat ana niya,” said Labrador.
Labrador said she last saw her sister duringthe birthday celebration of their other sister in Tuburan town last December 27.
Eroyla, Labrador said, did not return to Mandaue City with them on the same day because she wanted to spend the New Year with her five-year-old daughter from her first relationship in Tabuelan town.
Labrador revealed that Eroyla was only 17 years old when she had a child. Eroyla’s daughter is being raised by the parents of the child’s father.
“Naa man na siyay anak gud nga naa sa iyang ugangan sa una. Nihangyo man to ang bata nga adto siya mag-New Year. Wala gani ko kahibaw nga nabalik na diay siya sa syudad,” Labrador said.
Another problem that Labrador faced now, apart from the funeral expenses, is how to tell their 67-year-old paralytic mother that Eroyla is dead./ elb