Family of 4 hacked to death in Masbate

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – A couple and their two children aged nine and 13 were hacked to death by a neighbor said to be mentally ill in Pio V. Corpus, Masbate yesterday morning, police said.

The fatalities were identified as Jimmy and Elena Dublin and their children Gerald, nine, and Jason, 13. The Dublins’ two other children, John-John, 10, and Jenelyn, 11, survived the attack with minor injuries.

Senior Superintendent Renato Bataller, Bicol police spokesman, said the suspect, Buenacio Lalacan, is known in their neighborhood in Barangay Poblacion to be suffering from a mental problem.

Senior Inspector Rodel Arevalo, team leader of the Pio V. Corpus police that responded to the incident, said pursuit operations were ongoing for Lalacan who escaped after the incident.