QUEZON CITY, MANILA, PHILIPPINES – DECEMBER 8, 2016 51-year-old Merlinda Rompe Bolo became the victim of a murder on Commonwealth Avenue. She was walking early in the morning to a pharmacy to buy medicine for her sick husband. On the way, a white van stopped next to her, from which the perpetrator got out and fired several shots at her. She fell to the ground dead on the spot.
Some indications suggest that the murder may be connected to drugs. The victim’s daughter stated that her mother had been undergoing treatment for methamphetamine addiction. She reportedly enrolled herself in a government anti-drug program and at the time of the murder was already clean and without withdrawal symptoms. She left behind her husband, four children, and eleven grandchildren.