‘I shot dead my own daughter!’

PAOMBONG, Bulacan — Hounded by remorse, the father of a five-year-old girl who was killed here by a stray bullet on the eve of the New Year admitted to the police last Sunday that the fatal bullet came from his pistol.

Central Luzon police director Chief Supt. Oscar Calderon said yesterday that Felipe Bondoc voluntarily went to the local police station to admit that the fatal bullet that hit his daughter Joville was accidentally discharged from his licensed caliber .32 pistol.

Contrary to earlier reports that Joville was hit while she was in the toilet of her home in Barangay San Isidro I in this town, Felipe claimed his pistol accidentally fired after his daughter playfully pulled it from him while he was removing the pistol’s magazine.

Joville was rushed to a hospital in neighboring Hagonoy town where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Earlier, Calderon offered a P100,000 reward to whoever could identify the culprit.

A police source from Camp Olivas said that even before Felipe turned himself in, local police had been receiving cellphone text messages from neighbors saying that it was Joville’s father who fired the fatal shot during New Year’s eve revelries in the neighborhood.

Calderon said, however, that despite the anonymous information from cellphone text sources, no one would get the reward since the suspect had voluntarily admitted his deed.

"We are still consulting with lawyers on what charges are to be filed against the father," Calderon said. He added that the case should serve as a lesson to others who are to fire their guns during New Year revelries.

Meanwhile, the police have already filed charges of alarm and scandal, as well as illegal discharge of firearms against two more persons who fired their licensed firearms during the recent holidays.

Calderon identified one of the suspects as Norberto de la Cruz, 54, an employee of the Central Luzon office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Dela Cruz was arrested by the police in Barangay Mabolo in Malolos in this province after he indiscriminately fired his licensed .9 mm. pistol on New Year’s eve. The magazine of his pistol was already empty of bullets when his gun was confiscated by the police.

The other suspect was identified as security guard Placido Malabanan, 44, who also fired his caliber .38 service pistol at about 3 p.m. last New Year’s day in Barangay Lumang Bayan in Plaridel town.