Amok kills mother-in-law, wounds wife

BADTANG, Batanes — A 39-year-old farmer ran amuck in Barangay Nakanmuan here last Thursday night, killing his mother-in-law and wounding his wife.

Moises Esperanza, according to his stepson Roderick Cultura, was having a drinking session in nearby Barangay Sumanga, when one of his companions teased him into going home immediately because his wife, Marilyn, was allegedly entertaining a male visitor.

Esperanza immediately went home and, without any warning, grabbed Marilyn’s hair and hacked her in the forehead. Though wounded, she managed to run away and hide in the bushes.

Cristina Cultura, Esperanza’s 60-year-old mother-in-law, rushed to her daughter’s house to investigate the commotion but was hacked in the neck, her head almost severed, Cultura said.

Cultura, who drives one of the only two passenger jeepneys in this island-municipality, rushed his wounded mother to the Batanes General Hospital in Basco, which is four hours away by motorboat and jeepney.

Responding policemen, who trekked eight kilometers to Barangay Nakanmuan, found a bloodied Esperanza at the second floor of their house at noon Friday. He had slashed his throat in an apparent suicide attempt. He is fighting for his life at the Batanes General Hospital.