MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/ 14 September)—“Peace be with you, Angel,” Dr. Ma. Bernadette Tenorio’s friend Anna Leah Bioco said in her eulogy at the funeral mass Friday morning at the San Isidro Cathedral here as family, relatives, friends and acquaintances of the slain dentist bid her goodbye.
“She was a beautiful person… her generosity was contagious …her laughter, energizing,” added Bioco, one of two friends who gave eulogies in the short testimonial after the mass presided by Fr. Chris Constantino and concelebrated by Fr. Columbano Adag and Fr. Boyet Yee from the Monastery of Transfiguration.
Bioco described Tenorio, 42, as someone who had “lived a full life.” The two have met in 2002 when their children went together to a common school.
“The quality of life here is measured not on how long you have lived, but how well you have lived,” she added.
Adag, a Benedictine monk and a close friend of Tenorio, said in his homily that life on earth is meant so that persons can serve as “salt to the world.”
“The community’s loss is heaven’s gain,” he added.
Ruth Ignacio, director of Marywoods Academy, where Tenorio’s two children are studying, described her as a person with integrity and a morally-upright person.
“She could be friends with everyone, anyone,” Ignacio, who recalled a “special friendship” with Tenorio, added.
Ignacio said Marywoods Academy, which is celebrating its anniversary, will dedicate a portion of its tribute to Parents’ Day for Tenorio, who was an active leader of the parents’ association in the school.
The mass and the short testimonial went solemnly until 9:30 a.m., after which her remains were brought to the Divine Shepherd Memorial Gardens in Bulua, Cagayan de Oro City for cremation. Her ashes will be brought to the Marbel Cemetery in Koronadal City on Sunday for interment. Her family hails from Koronadal.
Arnold “Jojo” Tenorio, the family’s spokesperson, thanked everyone who helped them in their grief.
In Tenorio’s Facebook account, aside from farewell and rest in peace greetings, calls for justice filled her wall.
The Malaybalay Police Station, headed by Senior Supt. Oscar Jacildo, vowed a full investigation on the case.
Jacildo said a police team is tracking down the gunman who fired the single shot that killed Tenorio on September 8 inside her clinic in one of the most tragic and talked-about crime in the city in recent years. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)
