Couple hacked in Toledo City

CEBU, Philippines - The bodies of a man and his common-law wife were nearly severed after they were repeatedly hacked by their drunken neighbor Wednesday evening at sitio Cabulihan, barangay Ilihan, Toledo City.

Two other killings also happened in Danao City and Liloan, wherein a trisikad driver died and two were wounded.

In the Toledo incident, 27-year-old Lito Blanco died on the spot along with his 37-year-old live-in partner Mercidita Manundo, who was five months pregnant.

Arrested and detained in the Toledo police stockade was tricycle driver Armando Ortiz, 52.

Senior Police Officer 3 Carmelito Hornales, desk officer of the police station, disclosed that Blanco and Ortiz were drinking with two friends inside Ortiz’s house, a few meters away from Blanco’s residence.

While drinking, the two were throwing jokes at each other. Ortiz got upset, went to the kitchen and came back with a bolo.

Ortiz went behind Blanco and started hacking him. Blanco tried to cover himself with both arms but he collapsed on the floor.

Manundo, who saw what happened, immediately ran to the suspect’s house but she was also hacked by Ortiz.

Two witnesses tried to hold Ortiz but they lost their grip on him. Ortiz threatened to kill the witnesses and continued to hack Manundo.

Ortiz fled on foot. The witnesses left the house and called for help. Neighbors came and called for police assistance.

Martino del Pino, brother-in-law of the suspect, who saw him hiding in a corner at barangay Sangi, turned him over to the police station.

A double murder case will be filed against Ortiz at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.

Meanwhile, in Danao City, 20-year-old trisikad driver Benjamin Gacho died after he was shot by an unidentified man at Juan Luna Extension at around 6 p.m. last April 5.

According to the police, Gacho was transporting his passengers when a man on board a trisikad behind them went down and shot him at his left temple. He died on the spot.

The police believe that the shooting is related to the case of the younger brother of the victim, Romeo Gacho Jr., who is the suspect of an earlier shooting.

Another shooting incident happened at around 2 a.m. in Sitio Suba, Barangay Poblacion, Liloan yesterday.

Marie Joy Quachon, 20, and Brent Marikit, 23, were shot by two unidentified men who were on board a motorcycle.

Quachon sustained gunshot wounds at her abdomen and right arm while Marikit was wounded in his chest.

According to the police, the two were drinking outside a store when the shooting happened. The two are now confined at the Don Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.  (FREEMAN)