Remains of 2 Filipinos arrive from Cyprus

MANILA, Philippines — The bodies of two of the three Filipino victims of a serial killer in Cyprus have arrived in the country for burial.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said the families of Marry Rose Infante, 38, and Maricar Arquiola, 31, received their remains after arriving on Saturday night from a final flight from Doha, Qatar.

The body of Infante’s 6-year-old daughter Sierra Graze Seucalliuc, who was killed with her, was taken to Romania upon her father’s request.

Meanwhile, the remains of the third Filipino victim, Arian Palanas Lozano, 28, were still in Cyprus.

These young women were reported missing between 2017 and 2018, but authorities in Cyprus did not investigate until Infante’s body was accidentally discovered in an abandoned mine shaft in Mitsero in April.

An officer of the Cyprus National Guard, Nicos Metaxas, 35, was meted seven life sentences last month after pleading guilty to killing five women and two children. —Dona Z. Pazzibugan