Misery drives ma to kill own kids

Did starvation and misery finally eat up whatever was left of her sanity?

A 43-year-old mother of seven, left broke and mentally disturbed by her husband’s abandonment, smothered to death two of her children before dawn yesterday in Caloocan City.

Chief Inspector Lino Garcia, Sub-station 3 commander, identified the suspect as Rosalinda Estodillo Piloneo of Phase 2, Package 1, Block 8, Lot 13, Bagong Silang, Caloocan City.

Piloneo’s 12-year-old daughter, who escaped a similar fate, told police how her younger brother Jaypee, 11, and sister Jerlyn, 9, were smothered with pillows at around 3 a.m. yesterday.

The two were reportedly sound asleep in side their cramped one-room shanty when their mother killed them.

The surviving child told police that when her mother had finished killing her brother and sister, she also tried to suffocate her but was able to run away and hide in the neighborhood.

At about 7 a.m. yesterday, the child narrated to a neighbor what her mother did to her two younger siblings.

Concerned residents reported the incident to the police, resulting in the immediate apprehension of the suspect, who was eating breakfast at a neighbor’s house at about 7:30 a.m.

The victims were found already stiff and being eaten up by red ants, some four to five hours after they were killed.

Neighbors claimed the suspect’s husband, Gerry, who was working odd jobs, left his family some eight months ago.

Officer on case PO3 Leonilo Paduiga said the couple had seven children, born a year after the other with the eldest at 15 and the youngest at eight. Two of the children were reportedly in Bataan while two other were employed as housemaids.

Since her husband walked away, the jobless mother has been observed by other neighbors to be deeply troubled, having no means to support her remaining children.

They noted that the mother had once been seen in a demented state, traipsing on shanty roofs and cutting her hair.

"Kagabi, natulog na lang daw sila na di kumain (Last night, they just went to sleep without eating supper)," the neighbor said.

Police said that suspect tried to commit suicide Sunday by trying to stab herself but was stopped by neighbors.

At the police station, the suspect was not yet aware of what she did to her children. She could not even remember their names and that of her husband, police said.

Despite her condition, police said, double parricide charges will still be filed against the suspect.