Maria Cecilia “Myra” Loreto was the embodiment of the OFW dream. For over a decade, she worked tirelessly as a caregiver in Canada, sacrificing years away from her husband and two children in the Philippines. Her goal was simple and noble: to save enough money to bring them all to Canada to start a new, better life together.

She was a beloved figure in the Filipino community of New Westminster, British Columbia—a talented singer, an active volunteer, and a friend known for her infectious smile and kindness. In 2019, her dream finally came true when her family arrived.

But the joyful reunion she had worked so hard for would soon dissolve into a gut-wrenching tragedy, ending with her own daughter allegedly plotting against her.

The story of Maria’s life was one of relentless hard work and devotion. After arriving in Canada in 2011, she balanced her demanding caregiver job with night classes to become a dental assistant, all while sending a significant portion of her earnings back home.

Her sacrifice paid off. She became a Canadian citizen, secured a stable career, and finally, after years of paperwork and waiting, sponsored her husband and children to join her. She gave them everything—a new home, a new country, and the promise of a future free from financial struggle.

But the family she was reunited with was not the same one she had left. Her children, who were young when she departed, were now teenagers. The years of separation, a common and painful reality for OFW families, had created a distance that was difficult to bridge.

While Maria worked even harder to provide for her family’s new life in Canada, her 17-year-old daughter, whom we will call “Christine,” fell into a relationship with a 21-year-old man named Carlo Castillo Tubias.

Maria strongly disapproved of the relationship. She was concerned about the age gap and the influence Tubias had on her daughter, who was still a minor. She saw her daughter pulling away, becoming defiant and secretive.

The mother’s concern, born from love and a desire to protect her child, was perceived by the teenager as an obstacle to her romance. This tension, simmering beneath the surface of the family’s new life, would soon boil over with devastating consequences.

On March 17, 2021, Maria Loreto was reported missing. Her friends and community were immediately alarmed; it was completely out of character for the responsible and communicative woman to simply disappear.

The search began, filled with a growing sense of dread. Four days later, that dread was realized when a fire was reported in Burnaby’s Greentree Village Park. Responding firefighters made a grim discovery: the burned remains of a human body. Dental records would later confirm it was Maria.

The investigation that followed was swift and shocking. Authorities quickly arrested two individuals: Carlo Castillo Tubias and Maria’s own 17-year-old daughter, Christine. The community was stunned. What could have possibly led to such an unthinkable outcome?

The horrifying truth emerged from Tubias’s own confession. He told police that he and Christine had planned the entire incident. He claimed that it was Christine who was the true mastermind, her anger at her mother’s interference in their relationship having festered into a cold-blooded rage.

According to his statement, on the night of March 17, as Maria returned home from her long shift at a superstore, they ambushed her.

He claimed he punched the 49-year-old woman, knocking her unconscious. Then, he alleged, it was Christine who took a knife from the kitchen and inflicted the fatal wounds on her own mother.

Tubias admitted to his role in the aftermath. He stated that he helped his teenage girlfriend wrap her mother’s body in a blanket, place it in their car, drive it to the park, and set it on fire in a desperate attempt to conceal their horrific act.

The case is a chilling and devastating look at a family destroyed from within. The daughter, for whom Maria had sacrificed so much, was now accused of a betrayal so profound it is difficult to comprehend.

While the court has placed a publication ban on the details of the daughter’s case due to her being a minor at the time, Carlo Castillo Tubias pleaded guilty.

In exchange for his confession, he was sentenced to just over eight years in prison. The story of Maria Cecilia Loreto is a tragic and final chapter in a life of sacrifice, a mother’s dream of a family reunited, shattered by the very child she had worked so hard to save.