Sarah Balabagan

In 2013 she married June Sereno, and they have a child. As of 2018, she lives in Las Vegas with her husband and five children.

Shortly after her release, Balabagan embarked on a career as a singer, appearing on a television programme with Geri Halliwell. In 1998, she became a single parent after a brief relationship. In August 2003, she announced her engagement to Russell Vergara. She went on to have two more children. She later converted from Islam to Christianity after being introduced to a pastor by a Christian singer, Dulce Amor. She and Vergara divorced in 2010.

Balabagan's story was dramatised in the 1997 Philippine film The Sarah Balabagan Story. Directed by Joel Lamangan the Filipino language film starred Vina Morales in the title role which was initially offered to Balabagan herself but had declined. The government of the Philippines made several attempts to prevent the film from being shown lest it damage bilateral relations with the United Arab Emirates, and its release was delayed for several months.

Reportedly, it was only after a personal appeal for mercy by President of the United Arab Emirates Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan that al-Baloushi's family agreed to drop their execution demand in exchange for blood money. On October 30, at her third trial, her sentence was reduced to a year's imprisonment and 100 strokes of the cane, along with payment of blood money, which was donated by a Filipino businessman. She was caned in 20 strokes at a time over five days spanning January 30 – February 5, 1996. Philippine Ambassador Roy Señeres said "Balabagan said it was bearable. Embassy officials visited her twice afterward, and there were no marks or bruises or reddening." However, she later said that her injuries were more serious than she said at the time. She returned to the Philippines on August 1, 1996, to a hero's welcome.

On June 26, 1995, a court ruled that she was guilty of manslaughter as well as a victim of rape. She was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and ordered to pay 150,000 dirhams (US$40,000 ) in blood money to al-Baloushi's relatives, while at the same time awarded 100,000 dirhams (US$27,000) as compensation for the rape. However, the prosecution appealed the verdict, calling for the death penalty. On September 6, 1995, a second Islamic court found no evidence of rape and convicted her of premeditated murder, sentencing her to death by firing squad. There was an international outcry and a defense campaign in several countries, as her case was seen as symbolising the ill-treatment of domestic servants in Arab states of the Persian Gulf, and just a few months earlier there had been the rather similar case of Flor Contemplación, a Filipina domestic worker who was hanged in Singapore that March.

On July 19, 1994, Balabagan killed her employer, Almas Mohammed al-Baloushi, stabbing him 34 times. She alleged that he had tried to rape her, and that she was acting in self-defence.

Sarah Balabagan-Sereno (born August 16, 1979) is a Filipina who was imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates from 1994 to 1996 for murder. She was initially sentenced to death, but was later returned to the Philippines. Her story was made into a film in 1997.