Toddler strangled, drowned by aunt's spurned suitor

MANILA, Philippines - A two-year-old boy was strangled with a piece of cloth before being left to drown in a basin of water by his aunt’s suitor in Pasig City Wednesday.

Mark Keisha Magbanua, was dead by the time he was found by his relatives in the bathroom of their house in Barangay Pinagbuhatan at 1 p.m.

An hour later, police arrested suspect Ariel Pangarungan, 21, at his residence at the Mapayapa Compound in Barangay Sto. Tomas. Police said Pangarungan admitted to the crime.

Senior Police Officer 3 Roger Villanueva said Pangarungan paid a visit to Magbanua’s aunt, April Joy Galicia, who told the suspect to leave. Witnesses said Pangarungan beat Galicia then turned his ire on Magbanua, who started crying when he saw his aunt being attacked.

Pasig City police chief Senior Superintendent Jesse Cardona ordered that Pangarungan be tested for drugs, saying he believes that a person with a stable mind would not commit such a crime.

Cardona said Pangarungan lives at the Mapayapa compound, a former drug haven of convicted drug lord Amin Imam Boratong.

Pangarungan is being held at the Pasig City police station while a murder charge is being readied against him.