Cherry Pie now willing to forgive mom’s killer

CHERRY Pie Picache photo by Kimberly dela Cruz

“Just to consider forgiving him is already a big step,” said actress Cherry Pie Picache of the person convicted for killing her mother, Zenaida Sison.

Two years after the murder, Cherry Pie (Sison’s youngest daughter) said she was willing to “let go and move on.”

“I’m still at the start of this long journey,” the actress shared with the Inquirer during a recent visit to its Makati City office. “My siblings, especially my two sisters who are based in the United States, once told me, ‘You’re willing to forgive him? Are you serious?’”

Houseboy Michael Flores confessed to killing Cherry Pie’s mom at the latter’s home in Quezon City in September 2015. Flores said he had planned to take Sison’s money and jewelry but then she woke up and shouted for help, prompting him to kill her.

“I had to explain my position to them (her siblings). You see, it’s easy to talk to people about healing and forgiveness, but it’s different when it (the offense) actually happened to you,” the actress pointed out.

Cherry Pie has rejoined the Prison Pastoral Care Ministry of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), a group that she used to be an active member of before her mom was killed. She is also part of the CBCP’s Episcopal Parish Commission on Prison Pastoral Care for Restorative Justice.

She is now conducting talks to different groups about “The Path to Forgiveness.” She is also working on a book with the same theme.

She said the late filmmaker Francis Xavier Pasion had convinced her to do it. “We even planned on making a movie based on my experience. Sadly, that will not push through anymore,” she said of the director who died of heart attack in March this year.

Cherry Pie has also returned to making indie movies via the Paolo Villaluna film “Pauwi Na,” which won her best actress at the first ToFarm Film Festival. Screenings of the six finalists at the SM Megamall Cinema 7 in Mandaluyong City has been extended until tomorrow.

Asked how she and her family are holding up, the actress said: “We cannot sulk forever. Of course, I still think about what happened during my quiet time. I am the one who takes care of my mom’s house. I also deal with the case and am the only one who is still communicating with Michael Flores and those associated with him.”

She said acceptance of their mom’s death was more difficult for her sisters, Lily Ann Hibbard and Marichu Valenzuela. “I can say that my brother (Erwin Herrera) and I are in a better state of mind because we get to confront the problem every day. I believe that this helps speed up the healing process. Theirs is delayed because they are more detached.”

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