Girl, 11, stabs father dead

CEBU, Philippines- An 11-year-old girl stabbed dead her own father whom she caught attacking her mother with a hacksaw last Sunday evening in Barangay Canbanua in Argao town.

Ana (not her real name) is now in the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 7 while her mother is still recuperating in a government hospital because of the wounds in her leg.

Ana left a letter before she ran to a neighbor to ask for help after the incident.

“Dear Family, Napatay ko ang papa ko… nagagalit ako sa kanya pero naawa rin ako kahit kunti… hindi sana mangyayari ito sa kanya kung…,” her unfinished letter read.

The father, 38, sustained a stab wound to his chest that caused his immediate death.

Neighbors brought him to the Isidro C. Kintanar Memorial Hospital but he did not make it alive.

The mother, 38, was also taken to the same hospital but was later transferred to Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

The couple has been living together for 13 years.

The mother narrated that her husband arrived home drunk at around 11:00 p.m. last Sunday.

They had an argument and their loud voices woke their children aged 13, 11, and two months, as well as some of their neighbors.

Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, Argao police chief, said that in the middle of the couple’s heated argument, the husband attempted to box his wife, which prompted her to get a saw and a scythe kept at the back of the house.

The wife tried to scare her husband but he grabbed a piece of wood and struck her forehead causing her to collapse in front of their children.

The husband then tried to amputate his wife’s left leg using a hacksaw.

This forced Ana to take a knife that she kept behind their cabinet and stab her father in the chest.

The father ran out to ask for help but he collapsed about 100 meters from their house.

Upon learning about the incident, the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) immediately assisted the mother and the children. Ana’s 13-year-old sister defended her saying what happened was an accident.

“Kung mamatay man si mama, puslan nga mamatay lang pud si papa kay mag-unsa man lang mi ug wala na si mama,” she said.(We can’t live without our mother).

Cry for help

Gina Flores, a neighbor, she heard the children inside the couple’s house crying.

“Nag-syinagitay ug naghinilakay na man sila,” Flores told The FREEMAN. (They were shouting and crying.)

Then, Ana came to her house and asked her to call the police because she stabbed her father.

They used the telephone of another neighbor, Susan Famat, to inform the police and did not allow Ana to go back to their house thinking that the father might harm the girl.

They turned her over to the police when they arrived minutes later.

Illicit affair

The wife suspected that her partner was having an affair and this caused their argument that night.

 Their neighbors reportedly saw the father with another woman on board his motorcycle.

Looc Barangay Captain Felix Boltiador told The FREEMAN that the husband was a driver of Argao Mayor Edsel Galeos for more than a year but was terminated for allegedly having an affair with a married woman.

Good girl

Ana’s class adviser, Maria Fe Caiwan, was shocked to hear the news.

Ana is a grade six pupil of the Canbanua Elementary School

“Dili gyud ko katuo kay hilomon siya, hinhin abi gani nako og na-rape pagkahibalo nako nga tua sa DSWD sa kabuotan niya dili gyud ko katuo,” Caiwan said. (I can’t believe it because she is the silent and demure type. I even thought she was raped when I learned that she is in the custody of the DSWD.)

Mary Joy Elevera, a classmate, said she was saddened by the news and felt sorry for her friend.

“Pirmi mana siya nako mosulti nga mag-away iyang mama ug papa pero naluoy ko niya karon,” she said. (She always tells me her parents often fight. I really pity her now.)

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia asked the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) head Marivic Garces to coordinate with their local counterpart in Argao to determine what assistance they can extend to the family.

 “What a terrible tragedy. We will try to extend the assistance that we can and I will ask Marivic to confer with the social welfare officers in Argao and assure them that we will extend all support in any way nga makatabang ta, including ang mama nga nadala nganhi sa hospital,” Garcia said. —/MBG (FREEMAN)