About 1,500 classmates, teachers, neighbors, friends and relatives yesterday cried for justice at the funeral of Mary Rose Padilla, a teenager believed to have been raped and strangled to death in a sugarcane field in Hacienda Mirasol, Brgy. Granada, Bacolod City on July 27.

Padilla, who would have turned 15 tomorrow, was buried at the Granada Public Cemetery in Brgy. Granada yesterday, following a 2-hour necrological service at the Lady of Lourdes Church in the barangay, officiated by Father Alfonsito Arojo and Father Francisco Perez.

Moises and Rosalie Padilla, her parents, said they will not stop pursuing the case until her assailant or assailants are arrested and convicted.

"I condemn the person or persons who raped and killed Mary Rose but I pray that God will forgive him or them for what he or they had done to her," Perez said.

The suspect or suspects could escape from the police authorities, but they cannot escape from God's justice, he added.

Perez said he is encouraging those who may have witnessed the incident to surface and cooperate with the police in the investigation.

"Do not be afraid, we should take a stand and a crusade against criminalities", he added.

Meanwhile, Arojo said the death of Mary Rose should serve as a lesson that parents should be vigilant.

Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, who attended the burial, yesterday said he assured the Padillas that justice will be attained sooner. He said he had asked Bacolod City police director Senior Supt. Pedro Merced to investigate the Mary Rose case deeper.

Puentevella said he attributes the series of rape-slay incidents in Negros Occidental to the drug problem and poverty. To reduce these cases, pressure should be put to the police force, but the community should also do their part, he added.

Eugene Esteves, adviser of III-3 at the Emiliano Lizares National High School, yesterday said Mary Rose was a diligent student and a good daughter. She said Mary Rose was struggling to pursue her education despite poverty.

"Her burial signifies the death of her dreams and ambitions, but we will continue to ask justice for her," Esteves said between sobs. "We hope the truth and justice will prevail," she added.

"We are here to pray for you and we will miss you," Mary Rose's close friends and classmates Shiela Mae Duron, Nina Malba and Ernil Joy Occeño said.

Duron said they were planning to celebrate Mary Rose' birthday at Buro-buro falls.

"We cannot accept her loss and our group will never be whole again", they said.*DMG

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