Retired teacher, daughter bludgeoned to death

GUAGUA, Pampanga, Philippines – A retired school teacher and her daughter were bludgeoned to death and their bodies partially burned in their home in Barangay Pulungmasle here on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

Probers were still clueless on the killing of retired public school teacher Adelaida Santos, 67, and her daughter Ivay, 29, according to Senior Superintendent Oscar Albayalde, provincial police director.

Superintendent Angelito Esteban, Guagua police chief, said the crime probably happened between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday, but it was reported to his office at 6:45 p.m.

Esteban said neighbors found Santos’ body at the back of her house, and her daughter’s, in the toilet.

Police said mother and daughter were apparently watching television when the attackers barged into their house and bashed their heads with the handle of a floor polisher.

Esteban said the assailants apparently tried to burn the victims’ bodies by dousing them with gasoline “but the bodies were only partially burned.”

He said probers were still trying to find out if the assailants took anything from the Santoses’ house, which was found in disarray.

In Malasiqui, Pangasinan, another retired teacher, Felipa Monto, 90, was stabbed dead in her house last Tuesday and police were eyeing robbery behind her slay.

Police said Monto’s daughter Myrna and her husband found her dead, with a kitchen knife still embedded in her abdomen, when they arrived home at around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. – With Ric Sapnu, Eva Visperas