Neighbors try to overcome trauma from murder of FHM model

Forty days after the March 13 murder of FHM magazine model Scarlet Garcia and three others, a mass was held at the townhouse where their bodies were found, to "cast away bad spirits."

Afterwards, fireworks went off to drive away "bad spirits" that might haunt what became known as "Scarlet Garcia's townhouse" at Gordon Heights here, owner Luis Ramirez said.

Garcia, 23, her cousin Rachel Estacio, 20, and their boyfriends George Castor Vitug Jr., 27, and Von Mark Bandejas, 22, were found sprawled in the living room and toilet of the townhouse. Each had a bullet wound in the head. Their bodies were also partially burned.

The police believed the townhouse unit was set on fire to hide the murders.

"What happened there was scary," a woman at a nearby store said. "When it happened, I couldn't sleep for a few days. It's so scary to think that people can do this to other people and still get away with it. It makes you think anything is possible, that anything bad can happen to you or to anyone, and nobody will be there to save you," she rued.

The police arrested two suspects, Ferdinand Carderas and Jay-Ar Perez Mojica, on April 4, in the City of San Fernando where they were also linked to the break-in at the houses of Pampanga board member Raul Macalino and his neighbor and the rape of a 17-year-old girl and a 22-year-old woman in one of the houses.

Arson and murder charges were filed against Carderas and Mojica after ballistic tests done by the PNP crime laboratory in Camp Crame showed that a bullet and a cartridge used in the murder of Garcia and her companions came from a gun recovered in the San Fernando break-ins.

Carderas and Mojica denied their involvement in the Olongapo murders.

"Forty days after the incident, we're still recovering from what happened. I still have reservations about the results [of the police investigation] because I can't connect the motives of the killers," Ramirez said, referring to the police declaration of the case as "solved but not closed."

Bandejas' father, Gerardo, said he was not happy with the arrest of the two suspects. He said the mastermind and his other cohorts remained at large as of Thursday.

Monday's Mass, held at the parking lot where Vitug's white Toyota Vios was parked on the night of the murder, attracted some residents at Gordon Heights, including a key witness, former village chairman Damian de los Santos.

"I hope that this case gets solved. I pity the victims and their families. They must have justice," De los Santos said.

He was the one who, after being roused by a loud car alarm, saw two men transferring things from the Vios into another car.

He thought the two men were "doing nothing out of the ordinary." It was only later when he saw flames leaping from Garcia's townhouse that he sensed something wrong. He called the fire department.

"Until today, I am not sure that the case is solved. I believe the [results of the] ballistic tests. But we're still not sure. I will not say that the case is solved," he said.

"I feel pity for all of them, but especially Wacky (Bandejas' nickname). I heard he was the one who fought hardest because he received a lot of wounds," he said.

Despite the murders, De los Santos believes that the neighborhood is fairly safe.

"This incident is isolated. In the 18 years that I have stayed in this neighborhood, this is the first time something like this has happened. There is no cause for alarm,” he said.

“They were killed inside their apartment. It could have happened anywhere. If this happened outside -- on the street -- then we really have to worry because it means things here are getting out of control," De los Santos said.

A man on a bike, who stopped for a while, said: "This neighborhood will never be the same again. Every time I pass by here, I always look at that place and wonder what it was like for Scarlet and the others. It's good that they held a Mass there. But I don't think it changes anything."

At the end of the Mass, the townhouse was blessed by a priest.

"Despite the bad things that happened here, we still have to look at all the good things," Ramirez said. "That's why we are doing this." By Robert Gonzaga - Inquirer Central Luzon Desk