Gone too soon: Stacey was excited to play football today

By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor

STACEY Villar, the teenager believed to have been strangled after midnight on Thursday, had been psyched up and had been looking forward to a football match scheduled today.

Villar, 14 years old, was an active member of the Abba’s Orchard School’s football team, Cagayan de Oro-Misamis Oriental Football Association (CMOFA), and Higala FC (Football Club).

“They have an upcoming game on Saturday (today). My daughter was super excited, too,” a mother of one of Villar’s football teammates told the Gold Star Daily yesterday.

A day before she was found dead by her mother in her room, Villar tweeted: “futsal practice tomorrow @ macasandig.” Before that, she tweeted: “thursday tomorrow then FRIDAY>>>.”

She was a midfielder for the 17-and-under girls’ football team here. The teenager was promising in football, having been invited to try out for the Philippine National Football Team-Girls Division. She had also been looking forward to represent this city in a prestigious national sporting event for kids later this month.

Villar had even felt bad that her male counterparts in her school were not able qualify for the Milo Little Olympics set to be held at the Gregorio Pelaez Sports Complex here on Aug. 21 to 23.

“(A)bbas guys wont be playing sa milo,” Villar tweeted on Aug. 12. She ended the tweet with a crying emoticon. The teenager will no longer be able to pursue her dream of representing this city in the Milo Little Olympics. Her mother, Merideth “Madet” Mah, found the teenager lifeless on bed with a blanket wrapped around her body in the morning of Aug. 13. She had bruises around her neck. Police are focusing on a murder angle and are already pursuing the suspect––Villar’s mother’s alleged estranged lover. (see related story)

#JusticeForStaceyVillar 

Cries for justice over Villar’s perceived murder has been welling up on social media. One of her teachers at Abba’s Orchard School posted on her Facebook account: “Farewell dearest, Stacey. Let justice move and be served.”

On Twitter, Villar’s friends and teammates offered their sympathies and have been using the hashtag: #JusticeForStaceyVillar. “Today, I was heartbroken to hear news I never imagined… I’ll miss Stacey… So goddamn much. I wish we talked more..#JusticeForStaceyVillar,” tweeted @rianav21.

“Waking up realising that Stacey’s a big loss not just to her family and friends, but also to her football family [football icon] #JusticeForStaceyVillar,” tweeted @itskathleen_a.

Villar’s remains now lies at the Divine Shepherd in Barangay Bulua, this city. “She is at rest now, wearing her white clean dress. She looks like sleeping. It made me think, Oh, how such a promising young lady be put to test and left to die?” one of Villar’s teachers posted on Facebook.

Villar’s promising brilliance was snuffed too soon, the way the late Michael Jackson put it in a song: “Like a comet blazing ’cross the evening sky, gone too soon… Like the loss of sunlight on a cloudy afternoon, gone too soon.”