Ronn Tristan Perez came to Manila this week looking for his mother’s medical records.

The 28-year-old Filipino-American, an account executive from San Francisco who appeared on Season 22 of ABC’s The Bachelorette, spent Thursday, September 10, at the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) — the country’s lead criminal investigation agency — formally asking it to look into the death of his mother, Cristina, who died in March after undergoing four cosmetic procedures in a single sitting at a clinic in San Juan City, a small city tucked inside Metro Manila.

Speaking to reporters outside the NBI office, Perez explained why he was there. “I’m filing to get an investigation to look into my mom’s death,” he said.

What Happened to Cristina

Cristina traveled to the Philippines early this year for cosmetic work that reportedly included liposuction and a Brazilian butt lift, part of a set of procedures performed back-to-back by a plastic surgeon whose name has not been made public. Days later, she was gone.

Perez has since described the days between her surgery and her death as disorienting. In a televised interview, he recalled noticing something was wrong during a video call with his mother, then getting a call from relatives in the middle of the night informing him she had died.

He said he requested his mother’s complete medical records from the clinic but that not all of the documents were turned over, and that the clinic seemed to distance itself from what happened. “I just need clarity,” he said.

“That’s Not Good Enough”

Perez hasn’t named the surgeon publicly, and he’s said more than once that he isn’t accusing anyone while the case remains open. What he has repeated is that the explanations he’s gotten so far haven’t been enough. Since arriving in Manila, he said, the response he’s gotten has amounted to a shrug — that these things happen. “That’s not good enough for me,” he said.

He’s said the complaint is meant to establish what happened. He hasn’t pointed to anyone responsible, and says he won’t until the investigation gives him something concrete: if it finds nothing wrong was done, he said he intends to spend his energy making sure other families don’t end up in his position; if it finds negligence, he said he plans to pursue the matter further.

He’s had to put mourning on hold to collect records and sit for interviews, all in a country that isn’t his own. He’s said plainly that it’s worn him down — that he’d rather be home with his family than doing any of this.

A Pattern Manila’s Aesthetic Clinics Have Seen Before

Perez’s case made headlines this week largely because of who he is. The pattern underneath it, though — a patient scheduled for multiple body-contouring procedures in one sitting, then a death that follows soon after — has shown up in Metro Manila more than once.

In 2017, 29-year-old businesswoman Shiryl Saturnino died at a Mandaluyong clinic after roughly nine hours in the operating room, undergoing breast augmentation, liposuction, and buttock surgery in a single stretch. An autopsy attributed her death to multiple organ failure tied to complications from the surgery, and police eventually recommended charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide against the doctors and nurses involved.

In 2019, 43-year-old mother of five Nory Bobadilla died days after going into cardiac distress during a liposuction procedure at a Makati clinic. Her family filed a complaint against the attending doctors. Years later, that complaint was withdrawn after a re-evaluation of the case, and the doctors were formally cleared.

Both cases follow a shape close to what Perez is living through now: multiple procedures scheduled back-to-back, a death soon after, then years of an uncertain process for the family trying to get answers. Neither case ended with a clean resolution.

Part of that comes down to how the Philippines handles cases like this. The country doesn’t have a single law dedicated to medical malpractice. Families pursue accountability across three separate tracks: a civil case for damages, a criminal complaint for reckless imprudence, and an administrative complaint that can cost a doctor their license. Each runs on its own timeline, with its own burden of proof. An NBI complaint like the one Perez just filed is typically just the opening move in that process.

The Cost of Getting Answers

Even before he returned to Manila, Perez had been raising money to cover what his mother’s death cost the family. In April, he opened a GoFundMe explaining that because she died overseas, her medical expenses weren’t covered by insurance and had to be paid out of pocket, on top of funeral arrangements spanning two countries and, as he put it, an approaching legal fight. As of this week, the campaign had raised $9,595 toward a $10,000 goal.

A Title Dedicated to Cristina

In between the GoFundMe and the NBI complaint, there was a stage in Glendale, California. On August 9, Perez competed at the 2026 edition of Mister Philippines USA at the Alex Theatre and won the pageant’s Top Model title.

He explained the choice to compete in a post on Instagram afterward:

Side quest 36327: Mister Philippines USA 2026 🇵🇭

Growing up, my mom always wanted me to model or act, and I never really understood why. After she passed, I learned from childhood friends that she once had those same dreams herself before putting them aside to raise me and my brother.

Grateful for my experience at Mister Philippines USA for allowing me to celebrate my culture, make some new friends, share my mom’s beauty, and carry out her wishes one way or another.

This one’s for you, Mom 🏆❤️

A month later, he was back in the Philippines for a different reason: filing that NBI complaint.

For now, the NBI holds the file, and Perez said he plans to stay in Manila until he gets something more concrete than what he’s heard so far.