MARK ANGELO ROMA

THE TRAGIC LAWSUIT OF KIM CHIU AGAINST HER SISTER Matagal na alam ni Kim Chiu that her sister Lakam Chiu has been misappropriating her funds. They really tried to work it out and nilawakan ni Kim Chiu ang pang unawa niya kay Ate Lakam. They even reconciled just last month, allegedly. But she stil sued and filed for qualified theft. Bakit? And why qualified theft? Well, it all started when Lakam Chiu was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis in 2023, an illness so severe doctors considered her case "hopeless". Lakam fell into a coma for seven days and was in critical condition for the first five days of her 18-day hospital confinement. For several days, she was unable to talk, hear, or see. Her condition was so dire that a "do-not-resuscitate" (DNR) order was discussed by the medical team with the family — pinapipirma na si Kim Chiu and family ng DNR. But Lakam recovered — her recovery was described as "miraculous" by her family and the media. She was discharged from the hospital in May 2023. Lakam expressed how grateful she was for God’s miracle in her life in her Instagram back then. But the challenges didn’t stop for the two sisters. They were starting to have arguments and clashes. Kim wanted Lakam to rest for one month. “Ako ang nagagalit sa kanya. Minsan umiiyak na ako sa sobrang galit ko sa kanya. Pinapangaralan ko siya. Matigas ang ulo niya,” sabi ni Kim. But Lakam didn’t want to be “imprisoned” in a house for one month. Lakam explained, “I feel yung depression mo, you were sick and you were about to die… parang hindi pa ako naka-get over. Life is really short kasi we never know what’s gonna happen tomorrow.” Apparently after getting sick and having a near death experience, Lakam did not just suffer depression but she went into a YOLO (You Only Live Once) mode. She got hooked into gambling. She was often spotted in Solaire or a hotel casino. Lakam lost hundreds of millions of pesos — from Kim Chiu’s earnings — to gambling in the last two years. Even after discovering the situation, Kim Chiu was very understanding of the situation at first. And they really tried to patch it up and make it work — for Lakam to stop and get better. It was even reported just last November 5, 2025 that Kim Chiu and Lakam have reconciled. But even after the reconciliation nothing changed and damage was still being done to Kim Chiu and her business/es. Kumuha daw ng pera sa vault or sa condo. Tapos binenta daw yung isang condo without Kim’s consent. And so Kim Chiu was left with no choice but to sue her own sister — a woman she described in a tribute post back in 2020 as her “number one critic, my number one fan, my superwoman.” The case Kim Chiu filed speaks volumes — qualified theft means there was a gross and grave abuse of trust and confidence. Nakakasuhan lang ang tao ng qualified theft if the accused is a person that has the full and complete trust of the victim — if the accused was in such a special position to steal easily and massively from the victim. Here, Lakam Chiu was both the sister and business manager and handle of Kim Chiu. So she was in a fiduciary relationship. A fiduciary relationship is a bond where one party (the fiduciary) must act in the best interests of another party (the beneficiary) with loyalty, care, and good faith. Common scenarios of qualified theft include theft by domestic helpers, employees, or close managers who have been entrusted with property. So while everything was all good before Lakam Chiu got sick, Kim Chiu’s case might be a cautionary tale about mixing business and family. Kim Chiu lost not just hundreds of millions of pesos that she worked hard for. But she also lost (or is losing) a sister. By filing a case, she may not even recover the money but she will have her own sister put behind bars. What a tragedy twice over. There is no right or wrong decision. It’s an impossible decision. #KimChiu #QualifiedTheft