Fiance Shot to Death, but Filipino Bride Goes Ahead With Her Wedding Ceremony

MANILA — Evangeline Guico said her marriage vows Sunday, then sprinkled holy water over her fiance as he lay in a casket.

Guico, 21, who is two months pregnant, was to have wed 21-year-old Marlon Manalac on Sept. 26 after a three-year courtship. But on Tuesday, Manalac was found shot to death by an unknown assailant in a Manila suburb.

Manalac’s father, police Maj. Alfonso Manalac, decided to go ahead with the unusual ceremony, which took place at the family residence. A minister of the Aglipayan Church, a Philippine denomination that broke with Roman Catholicism, agreed to officiate. Manalac’s brother stood in for him at the ceremony.