Outside Cordi
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01.25.08Finally Home
Here’s a report on the service held for Arcelie Laoagan:
On the day they put their friend, fellow parishioner and sister to rest, the more than 400 people who fill Calgary Full Gospel Church Thursday console themselves with the conviction that the devoutly Christian mother of five is now, as Pastor Denzel Fenn tells them, “safe in the arms of Jesus,” in a place “where there are no more tears.”
They chant “yes, yes” when the pastor celebrates Arcelie’s passion for her faith; they heartily sing along when the choir — of which she was a member — belts out a jazzy rendition of Amazing Grace; and they hug one another throughout the service that is a moving send-off to what by all accounts was a gentle, kind woman whose life was filled with more challenges and pain than anyone should have to endure.
Read the full story here. Photo shows Laoagan’s siblings during the service. Photo credit: Canada.com
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01.25.08Suspect Arrested in Laoagan Case
From cbc.ca: A man has been arrested and is being questioned by Calgary police in connection with the murder of a woman whose badly mutilated body was found last week near a Calgary LRT station.
Police are questioning a man in connection with the murder of Arcelie Laoagan, who was found dead near the Franklin LRT station last week.Police are questioning a man in connection with the murder of Arcelie Laoagan, who was found dead near the Franklin LRT station last week.
In a news conference held late Thursday, Insp. Guy Slater said charges had not been laid in the death of Arcelie Sombrito de Laoagan.
“What we’re trying to determine now is the role this man played in the homicide,” said Slater, quoted in the Calgary Sun.
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01.25.08Arcelie Laoagan Updates
About the photo: Members of the Full Gospel Church of Calgary are devastated by her death. (Photo credit: Canada.com)
The Calgary Herald, 24 January: Police have officially identified the city’s latest homicide victim as a Filipina mother of five working in Calgary to support her family back home.
Arcelie Sombrito de Laoagan, 41, was last seen Thursday night, her final movements caught in surveillance camera footage. Investigators believe she got onto the LRT at the 8th Street S.W. station and disembarked at the Franklin station.
They are asking for anyone who may have seen her on the northeast leg of the McKnight-Westwinds C-Train between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. to contact them. Laoagan’s body was found early Friday morning on a well-travelled path near the Franklin station. Her purse is still missing.
The homicide prompted police to warn women to be more cautious, stay in busy, well-lit areas and to call 911 if they feel threatened.
A memorial for Laoagan is set for tonight at 7 p.m. at Calgary Full Gospel Church - 917 - 14th Ave. S.W.
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01.24.08Arcelie Laoagan: Link Roundup
Our first post on this tragedy is here. Meanwhile, here’s a roundup of news reports on the murder of Arcelie Laoagan.
Edmonton Sun, 20 January: Friends of a missing Filipina woman working two jobs in Calgary to support her family in her homeland suspect she’s the victim found dead behind a southeast Calgary church.
Arcelie Laoagan, 40, was reported missing by her roommate when she didn’t return home after leaving work at West Canadian at 10 p.m. Thursday.
The blood-soaked body of a woman matching Laoagan’s description was found at 6 a.m. Friday behind the Grace Baptist Church.
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01.24.08Arcelie Laoagan, 2008
This is really bad news. We tend to think that Canada is one of the safest countries in the world but this incident, on top of the earlier murder of Jocelyn Dulnuan, isn’t very reassuring. Here’s a report from the Inquirer on the murder of Arcelie Laoagan, a kailiyan who migrated to Calgary.
Another Cordilleran murdered in Canada — report
By Vincent CabrezaAnother Cordilleran has been reported murdered in Canada. Canadian newspapers reported this week that the “blood soaked body” of Arcelie Laoagan, 40, had been found by subway train workers on Friday behind a church in Calgary, Alberta.
Anthony Basil, Cordillera case officer of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, said Laoagan, a native of Sagada, Mt. Province, was the second migrant worker to fall victim to a crime in Canada in recent months.
Ifugao-born immigrant Jocelyn Dulnuan, 27, was murdered in a plush neighborhood of Mississauga City last October 1. Police have arrested two Latin American immigrants for the murder.
“We now have to address two fatalities from Sagada. We just received home [the body of Sagada native Zennia Aguilan, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan],” Basil said. The OWWA is awaiting feedback from the country’s foreign office in Canada.
Laoagan was reported missing on January 17 when she failed to return home. According to an online report of the Calgary Herald, she called friends when she was apparently attacked.
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01.18.08Update on Zennia Aguilan
Mom rues loss of OFW daughter to insurgent attack in Kabul
By Frank Cimatu/InquirerHerminia’s sweet little girl is coming home but it is not the homecoming she wanted for her daughter. Zennia Aguilan, 31, a physical therapist, was killed with five other people on Monday when armed men stormed the Serena Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Her 60-year-old mother, Herminia Aguilan, was not sure when her body would be brought home. “She’s short and very sweet,” said Herminia, a retired teacher at Saint Mary’s School in the tourist town of Sagada in Mt. Province.
“She called regularly and the last time was when she greeted me ‘Happy New Year,’” she said by telephone.
Zennia, the fifth of seven children, was still small when her father died.
Her only sister is the eldest and a nurse in the United States so Zennia was her mother’s little helper, said her aunt, Mary Padilan.
“She’s very loving especially with kids,” said her cousin Shirley Lebeng. “Zennia wanted to help her family and I don’t think she had a boyfriend. She always gave us gifts,” Lebeng said.
“My daughter is very thoughtful,” Herminia said.
Although originally from Agawa village in neighboring Besao town in Mt. Province, Zennia and her siblings had to stay in Sagada to be with their mother. Continue Reading…
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01.17.08iSagada Killed in Afghanistan
Our condolences to the family of Zennia Aguilan especially to Ma’am Herminia. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
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From GmaNews.TV: Relatives and friends describe 31-year-old Zennia P. Aguilan as daring, adventurous, kind-hearted, and bright. With this attitude, Zennia left her hometown in Sagada, Mountain Province after completing a course on physical therapy in 2004 to work in Taiwan.Two years later, she moved to Dubai, then to Afghanistan in July last year.
Little did she know that her adventure in Kabul would end her life. Zennia passed away on Tuesday after sustaining serious injuries from explosions when suicide bombers attacked Monday night the only five-star Serena Hotel in the Afghan capital where she worked as a spa supervisor.
Wire reports said at least eight other persons died in the attack.
Shirley Lebeng, Zennia’s cousin residing in Baguio City, described her as modest and a very bright child since her elementary days at the Anglican-run St. Mary’s School in Sagada. “She was good and kind-hearted.”
Lebeng said Zennia’s employer, a European who owns Spa Resources International at the Serena Hotel, telephoned the OFW’s mother and assured her of the repatriation of Zennia’s remains as soon as possible.
Herminia Aguilan, Zennia’s mother, is a retired school teacher in Sagada. She appealed to authorities to help bring her body home soon.
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