Isabela Holy Week death toll: 11

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – A father and daughter were shot dead by motorcycle-riding men in Isabela’s Angadanan town on Black Saturday, bringing the Holy Week death toll in Isabela to 11.

Reports identified the fatalities as Melanio Respicio and his daughter Maryjane, 7. Respicio’s wife, Marilou and another daughter, Merlyn, 22, were seriously wounded in the attack.

Police recovered three empty shells from a shotgun at the crime scene in Sitio Doña Maria, Barangay Lasuerte. Probers were still investigating the motive behind the killing. 

In the same day, one Michael Felipe, 10, of Isabela’s capital town of Ilagan, reportedly drowned, the second reported fatality due to drowning during the Holy Week break.

Meanwhile, two decomposing bodies bearing multiple stab and hack wounds were found in a hut in a hilly village in Cauayan City’s Barangay Villa Imelda over the weekend. Reports identified the victims as Mario Melendez, 50, and a certain Maryrose.

On Maundy Thursday, shooting incidents claimed the lives of two residents of Cauayan City and Ramon town. Three persons also died when their motorcycles collided while reportedly racing in Ramon town. – Charlie Lagasca, Raymund Catindig