Yoshi-Kate Abana Balad was a promising young woman whose future was brilliantly charted. Born on October 6, 1976, she was a class valedictorian at Peñablanca Integrated School in Tuguegarao City, earning numerous accolades in academics, leadership, and the arts.

Her aspirations were high, but her path was tragically cut short just as she prepared for senior high school.

Yoshi-Kate was the only child of Judy Asis Balad, a security guard, and her mother, an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) in Taiwan.

Just weeks before the incident, Yoshi-Kate’s mother had left the Philippines to work abroad, leaving her daughter in the care of her paternal grandparents at night, while she returned to her parents’ house during the day to prepare for school.

Due to their financial struggles, Yoshi-Kate’s mother had recently started sending her savings directly to her daughter, who would manage the family’s bank account. This financial control, however, became the source of a fatal confrontation.

Judy Balad, Yoshi-Kate’s father, had allegedly developed a severe addiction to online cockfighting and casino gambling, accumulating heavy debts.

On the evening of July 24, 2024, Judy returned home from work and called his daughter back to their house, which was just a few meters from her grandparents’ home. Soon after, Yoshi-Kate’s grandparents heard her screams: “Papa, huwag, Papa, Papa!” (Father, stop, Father, Father!).

The grandparents rushed to the house and saw Yoshi-Kate’s body lying bloody and prone. Her grandfather immediately wrestled a bladed weapon away from Judy, who was significantly larger.

But Judy managed to flee the scene before they could fully restrain him. The grandparents rushed Yoshi-Kate to the nearest medical center, but due to severe blood loss from multiple stab wounds, she was declared dead on arrival.

Tuguegarao City police immediately launched a manhunt. The following day, Judy Asis Balad voluntarily surrendered at the Carranglan Police Station in Nueva Ecija.

He was transferred back to Tuguegarao, where he admitted his actions. He claimed a recent, intense argument with his wife had fueled his depression, and he channeled his rage onto his daughter.

However, investigators later determined the real motive was money. Judy had allegedly demanded access to the savings account his wife had entrusted to Yoshi-Kate. When the dutiful daughter refused, the confrontation escalated to violence.

Yoshi-Kate’s final moments of struggle were a mirror of her valiant life—fighting for her family’s future even against the person she should have trusted most.

In the following days, consuming guilt led Judy to attempt to take his own life in the police station bathroom using a broken spoon to inflict wounds on his neck and abdomen. He was rushed to the Cagayan Valley Medical Center and survived.

The investigation quickly moved to charge Judy Asis Balad with parricide (the act of a person taking the life of their own child) and he was detained at the Tuguegarao City Police Station.

The profound grief of Yoshi-Kate’s mother and family was immeasurable. The person she loved and trusted most, the source of her light and inspiration, was the one who brutally ended her life and shattered her high aspirations.