"She stopped going to school three times because we do not have money. I did not let her wash the dishes. They shot her just like that."
- Mrs. Rodelas, mother of Jaja Rodelas
(from an interview conducted by InterAksyon.com's Jaime Sinapit)
(from an interview conducted by InterAksyon.com's Jaime Sinapit)
A twenty year old promising model, named Jaja Rodelas, was shot five times in the head and her body thrown on the concrete pavement along a busy street in Cubao, Quezon City. She was kidnapped upon the instigation of a person she considered her friend The plan was just to cripple her (lulumpuhin lang) and not to kill her, according to this friend.
It's as if crippling a person is not that painful.
It's as if crippling a person is not that painful.
Jaja is the youngest child in a family of six. Much like many other poor students, she had difficulty in paying her tuition and other educational expenses. Money was tight; her mother provides for her and her other siblings by cooking and selling food. Jaja tried modeling and even accepted bit roles on television just to be able to earn and save enough to enroll this semester.
I felt sad reading about her mother's sentiments on her death. Here is a mother who would have wanted her daughter to stay in school yet could not support her given their financial difficulties. How her heart might have bled for her daughter who aspired to do more, to accomplish more, to save for her schooling and to be able to help her family rise above their financial difficulties. How could anyone even hurt her youngest child, who she has high hopes and dreams for.
I am a mother and I am pained by what Jaja's mother is going through. I am angered by the inhumanity and senseless killing of one innocent soul.
I wonder whether her killers ever considered that Jaja's death will leave her mother and her family broken-hearted and in grief.
A report from GMA 7's 24 Oras:
I felt sad reading about her mother's sentiments on her death. Here is a mother who would have wanted her daughter to stay in school yet could not support her given their financial difficulties. How her heart might have bled for her daughter who aspired to do more, to accomplish more, to save for her schooling and to be able to help her family rise above their financial difficulties. How could anyone even hurt her youngest child, who she has high hopes and dreams for.
I am a mother and I am pained by what Jaja's mother is going through. I am angered by the inhumanity and senseless killing of one innocent soul.
I wonder whether her killers ever considered that Jaja's death will leave her mother and her family broken-hearted and in grief.
A report from GMA 7's 24 Oras:
