WHEN news of the murder of OFW Jullebee Ranara spread, many netizens scoured social media for clues on how she looked like.
A few days later, photos of her surfaced in news sites. Then Tiktok followers remember her face as that of a hijab-wearing “ninya reyes.”
She goes by the handle @bicolana_girl17.
Message of condolences flood Tiktok, sometimes stitching her last Tiktok dance posted January 20, two days before she died.
Following her death, her followers have ballooned to 145,400 as of January 29. Her account also had 1.4 million likes.
On January 9, she posted a video of her face with a Tiktok filter smeared in what seemed like new cuts.
January 17, she posted a video with a caption: “Malalampasan mo din yan 🙏”
A number of commenters said she must have loved her assailant, the 17-year old son of her employer in Kuwait.
What happened to Jullebee?
Over the past week, Ranara’s murder had caused a global outrage. On Sunday evening (Philippine time), the Arab Times reported that a burned corpse of a woman was found along Salim Road in Kuwait.
Initial reports said cranial fractures were found indicating that her head was smashed. What’s more, initial autopsy report showed evidence she was raped and apparently pregnant at the time of her death.
Following the discovery of the body, the Kuwaiti police arrested the 17-year-old son of her employer who was being alleged as Ranara’s killer.
Reportedly, test results also showed that the DNA matched that of the accused.
According to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), Ranara had a phone call with her family Friday (January 20) and said she fears her employer’s son. The next day her family could not locate and communicate with her until news of her charred body found in a desert shocked the family.
The DMW however said that no welfare incident about Ranara was reported to them prompting them to file a recruitment violation case against the victim’s local recruitment firm, Catalist International Manpower Services Co. as well as its Foreign Recruitment Agency (FRA) counterpart Platinum International Office as it is their responsibility to monitor the status of their worker.
However, a study of her Tiktok profile does not seem to show any indication that she was having troubles with her employer.
In fact, her last Tiktok entry was a dance on what looks like a rooftop posted January 20, the last day her family was able to talk to her.
As of the moment, this video already has 1.9 million views.
On that day, she had two Tiktok entries, the other was Nadine’s Lustre’s returning hit “Paligoy-ligoy.”
In fact, many of her Tiktok videos actually hit over a million views, especially after the news of death broke out.
But even before her ill fate, she already had a hefty Tiktok following.
Autopsy was immediately conducted shortly after the arrival of her remains Friday (January 27). Her family had requested for an autopsy to find out the exact circumstances surrounding her death.
Meanwhile, the Kuwait government has vowed to uphold an impartial investigation and justice for Ranara.
Also read:
Kuwaiti gov’t vows to resolve Ranara killing
Remains of OFW raped, burned in Kuwait to arrive Jan 27
Pinoy maid ‘raped, killed, burned’ in Kuwait
Photo credit:Screen grabbed from @bicolana_girl17 Tiktok
