A relative and three of Michelle Mergillano’s children view her remains
on Tuesday. —Jodee A. agoncillo
“Stay back, kids. Don’t get mixed up in this or we’ll get blamed for it,
too.”
This was how four armed men warned the children of Michelle Mergillano after
kicking the door open and finding her cradling a baby, her youngest, in her
arms.
According to one of the children, one of the intruders just dropped the baby
on the floor and shot the mother of five inside their residence in Barangay
Malanday, Marikina City, on the night of Feb. 20.
Speaking to the Inquirer at the wake on Tuesday, Mergillano’s eight-year-old
daughter “Bea” said she begged the hooded intruders to spare Michelle’s life,
but to no avail. “I have many siblings! Nobody will look after us!” the girl
recalled telling them.
Mergillano was shot four times—all in the head. Her children, who cleaned
the crime scene, recovered two of her teeth on the floor.
One of the victim’s relatives, who asked not to be named for security
reasons, said the gunmen were also probably after Mergillano’s husband Bernard,
who was on the roof of the house when the attack took place.
The couple, the relative said, were drug users but they did not surrender to
the police under the “Oplan Tokhang” antidrug campaign. A report by the
barangay’s anti-drug abuse council also alleged that Bernardo ran a drug den.
Mergillano’s eldest child, 13-year-old “James,” blamed his father for his
mother’s vice, which he said started two years ago. “I’m angry at Papa,” the
boy said.
James said he had dreamed of his mother after the killing and “she was
handing me a letter.”
With the wake being held in a church-owned property not far from the family
residence on Hyacinth Street, Bernard, who earned a living selling the corn
snack called “binatog,” had since made himself scarce and would only show up
briefly to place flowers on his wife’s coffin.
After their mother’s burial this Thursday, the five Mergillano children will
be left to the care of different relatives.
According to the Marikina police, three more alleged drug users were killed
by unidentified gunmen in the city that night: Michael Vitalico, Emilio Lamsen
III and Bernie Subungan.
Like Mergillano, these other victims were residents of Barangay Malanday and
were on the local drug watch list.
Michelle
A relative and three of Michelle Mergillano’s children view her remains on Tuesday.
A relative and three of Michelle Mergillano’s children view her remains on Tuesday.
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