The daughter of the slain former Lamitan City Mayor Rosita “Rose” Furigay on Saturday, July 30, said her family “is not involved” in the killing of the father of Dr. Chao-Tiao Yumol, the gunman in the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) shooting incident.
In her open letter posted on Instagram, Kelsey Furigay shared her thoughts and feelings regarding the shooting incident inside the university last July 24, where Yumol shot and killed her mother and two other victims - Victor Capistrano, the former mayor’s aide; and Jeneven Bandiala, a ADMU security guard.
Her twin sister, Hannah, also sustained gunshot wounds and is now confined in a hospital.
A week after the incident, Rolando Yumol, the suspect’s father, was gunned down by two unidentified motorcycle-riding men in front of his house in Lamitan, Basilan.
In her Instagram post, Kelsey said she was saddened upon hearing the news about the death of Yumol’s dad.
“When I heard the news, I cried. Nobody, not a soul deserves to be shot to death like that. No human has a right to take another. What did his father do to us? Nothing. It is his son’s actions not his. We do not want any more lives wasted because of this,” Furigay said.
She added that his father, incumbent Lamitan City Mayor Roderick Furigay, immediately called the authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident.
“We do NOT condone violence and killing. With everything going on, we need to unite and work together, not hate each other,” she also said.
Furigay shared that her family has been receiving death threats from trolls or the suspect’s sympathizers and supporters.
She said that the death threats, as well as disinformation, fake news peddlers, and “pushy media personnel” made it hard for her family to grieve in peace.
Furigay added that her mother was killed by Yumol a day before the hearing of more than 60 cyberlibel cases which her family filed against the suspect.
She also pleaded to the public to let them mourn the death of her mother in peace, adding that they only feel pain and grief in all the killings that happened.
“Please, we are in mourning. We do not have it in our hearts to think of revenge because the pain is just too grave. Please I am begging on my knees. To the public as a daughter, as a sister, as a fellow Filipino citizen, NO MORE LIVES SHED and no more violence. Let my family mourn in peace,” she said.