The gravesite of slain Police Captain Delfin Bontuyan at the Angelicum Garden in Barangay Canduman, Mandaue City is adorned with flowers and photos of him and his family on All Souls Day on Nov. 2, 2019. | CDND Photo/ Rosalie Abatayo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — They have learned to smile again but it doesn’t mean that they have stopped hurting.
Myra Bontuyan, the wife of slain Police Captain Delfin Bontuyan, spends most of her time setting flowers on the grave of her husband.
For every occasion since his death last May 21, Myra had different themes to adorn the gravesite of her husband.
Myra and Christine Claire, their 23-year-old daughter, also do not miss a day without visiting Captain Bontuyan’s grave at the Angelicum Garden in Barangay Canduman, Mandaue City.
Myra and Christine Claire Bontuyan, the wife and daughter of slain Police Captain Delfin Bontuyan, are left in tears during the All Souls Day observance at his gravesite at the Angelicum Garden in Canduman, Mandaue City on Nov. 2, 2019. They express frustrations that the perpetrators in the ambush-slay of the police officer remain unidentified six months after he was ambushed near the Mabolo Police Station in Cebu City in May 2019. | CDND Photo/ Rosalie Abatayo
This All Souls Day, November 2, white chrysanthemums, two angels, and multiple decorated candles adorned his grave. Their family photos are also displayed in frames along with the flowers while others were hanged on the tent that shaded the gravesite.
Myra said this was all she could do to remember the slain cop now that they could no longer go to the graves of their relatives like they used to do on All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
“Sad kaayo kay usually kami man gyud ang magkuyog. Magtuyok sa among relatives, mga friends, mag light mi og candle para nila. Karon, kami na lang. Wa mi magdahum nga karon kami na ang mag-light para sa iyaha,” a tearful Myra said in a CDN Digital interview.
(We are sad because we used to go together to visit the graves of relatives and friends, to light candles for them. Now its just us. We did not expect that we will now be lighting candles for him)
Watch a clip of CDN Digital’s exclusive interview here:
(This is very sad because we used to go around to visit and light candles for our relatives. Now, it’s just us. We never thought that we’d be lighting candles for him this time.)
Captain Bontuyan was ambushed last May 21 in Barangay Mabolo, just meters away from Cebu City Police Station 4.
Bontuyan, who was last assigned in Sulu, came from a court hearing at the Cebu City Hall of Justice when he was gunned down.
Almost six months since the incident, Christine Claire said no update has been given to them.
“It’s as if fresh pa siya nga wala tay nahibaw-an. If ever mo-ask mi, kay moingon ra sila nga mo-ask sila sa ilang head,” Christine Claire said.
(Its as if this is a new case and they knew nothing. Every time we ask for a progress report, they tell us they will still have to ask their head.)
Christine Claire could not hold back her tears as she expressed her frustration over the progress of the investigation.
“It’s very hard when they say that ‘One day you can move on from it,’ because in each passing day that I do not know what exactly happened to my father, I will never be able to move on. I will never move on from what happened because every day I’m reminded nga wala na koy papa (that I have lost my father). It reminds me that those people who did this to him are still out there, still living and still breathing, laughing,” Christine Claire said.
She added that she is disheartened that “unsolved cases have become a norm, rather than an exception.”
“It’s very disheartening kay I grew up that papa was in service. He was there to find perpetrators of crimes. He was able to solve killings, to solve crimes and he was with a team. Why is it that in those instances, it was possible [to solve cases] but now it’s not?” she said.
Despite this, Christine Claire said they will continue to search justice for her father./