Love triangle, land row eyed in Albay massacre

LEGAZPI CITY — Police are focusing on a love triangle or land dispute as the probable cause of Thursday night’s massacre of a family of six, including four children aged four to eight, in a far-flung village in Camalig, Albay.

Chief Inspector Rogelio Beraquit, Camalig police chief, said the results of scene-of-the crime investigation showed that the assailants gained entry into the Moral family’s home in Barangay Tumpa through a window whose glass jalousies they had broken with large stones and the kitchen door.

"There was a struggle between the victims and the suspects as things were scattered inside the house," he said.

Marilyn Moral, 37, was beaten up, her skull broken, her hair cut and her right eye pierced with a sharpened bamboo spear. She was also hacked and shot in the head.

The head of the family, Jesus Moral, 48, was shot in the abdomen and upper right arm.

The four children — Mark Kenneth, 10; Jemar Kim, 8; Jay-Ar, 7; and Mark Gil, 5 — died from multiple hack wounds. Jemar Kim’s left fingers were cut.

Probers led by Chief Inspector Josephine Clemens found the victims’ bodies sprawled on the kitchen floor.

Beraquit said the assailants appeared to have "so much anger" toward Marilyn, who suffered the worst fate, "that could have been triggered by jealousy."

Beraquit asked residents to help the police solve the case. "If they are afraid to come out, they could send us a text message and we will validate the information," he said.

Dante Jimenez, head of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, urged Albay Gov. Fernando Gonzalez to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers. — With Cet Dematera