Mindoro folk pay tribute to slain SEA Games gold medalist
CITY OF CALAPAN—Residents in this city and from other parts of Oriental Mindoro province on Monday paid tribute to Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist Mervin Guarte, who was killed in a stabbing incident here last week.
Family and supporters of Guarte, 32, staged a 10-kilometer legacy run at Plaza del Gobernador around 5:30 a.m. in Calapan, with runners from different groups, including Guarte’s brother Melchor, also an athlete, holding white balloons at the run to call for justice over his death.
Guarte, a native of Naujan town in Oriental Mindoro and a Philippine Air Force (PAF) personnel assigned in Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas province, brought home two silver medals from the 2011 SEA Games in men’s 800-meter and 1500-meter events in track and field, according to the provincial information office in its social media post.
He transferred to obstacle course racing where he won gold in the 2019 SEA Games in men’s 5 kilometer. He was also member of the men’s team relay that won gold in the 2023 SEA Games.
Guarte was asleep at the living room of his friend’s house in Barangay Camilmil here after a drinking session when was stabbed with a kitchen knife by the suspect who entered the residence around 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 7.
Reward
Neighbors took Guarte first to Sta. Maria Village Hospital for medical treatment and was later transferred to Mindoro Medical Center where he eventually died around 8 a.m. on Jan. 8.
Before his death, Guarte told police investigators who visited him in the hospital that he could not identify his attackers. But police later pointed to Dionisio Refel Calooy, 31, also a resident of Barangay Camilmil, as the suspect.
Police Lt. Col. Rodel Fulache, Calapan’s chief of police, the motive of Calooy, who has since gone on hiding, “could have been a long-standing grudge.”
He said a murder complaint had been filed against Calooy, a tricycle driver who was allegedly a “kababata” (childhood friend) of Guarte, before the city prosecutor’s office.
A reward money of P200,000 had been offered for his capture.
Guarte’s live-in partner Kristine Almeranias said in a television interview that she was thinking of marrying Guarte before his burial. Guarte, she said, proposed marriage to her in 2023. They had been together for 13 years and have two children, ages 5 and 4.
In a statement on social media, the PAF said the Pilipinas Obstacle Sports Federation, together with his family and loved ones, will bring the remains of Guarte for visits and viewing for mourners on Jan. 13 to Jan. 15 at the PAF Mortuary at Villamor Air Base, Pasay City before he would be laid to rest.
