4-year-old boy drowns in creek

The search for a missing four-year-old boy ended in anguish after his body was found floating near the bank of a creek in Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City the other night.

The boy, who had been missing since Tuesday, was identified as Carlo Lazaro, a resident of 119 Kaliraya Street in Tatalon. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Children’s Medical Center.

Investigators said Lazaro was found by his father Jose floating in the Villa España creek near their home on Kaliraya Street at about 8 p.m. The father rushed his son to the hospital where he expired at about 9:30 p.m.

Police sources said the boy may have slipped while playing with other children near the creek. Authorities found no external injuries on the body.

Meanwhile, police arrested yesterday one of four men suspected of shooting dead their 37-year-old neighbor Thursday night near his house in Barangay Vasra, Quezon City.

Victim Domingo de Guzman, a construction worker, of 39 Sitio Palanas, Vasra, suffered multiple bullet wounds and lacerations in the body and died while undergoing treatment at the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center.

The arrested suspect was identified as Philip Estanislao, a neighbor of the victim. His three cohorts in the crime are all at large. They were armed with stones and a homemade shotgun.

Reports showed that De Guzman was stoned and shot to death near his home at about 11 p.m. Authorities have yet to determine any motive for the crime. – Matthew Estabillo