Man kills two nieces, himself

CEBU, Philippines - Two sleeping girls were hacked dead, their heads almost severed, allegedly by their uncle who also killed himself by slitting his neck with a bolo, in Sitio Kalangyawon, Barangay Napo, Carcar City Monday night.

Carcar City police identified the victims as Rosalyn Mangyao, 16, and her sister Chairmain, 11. Suspect Domingo, 29, was also found dead apparently after he committed suicide.

A grief-stricken Ranulfo said his daughter Rosalyn, the fourth of nine siblings, dreamt of becoming either a teacher or a policewoman, while Charmain, his seventh child, wanted to finish her studies, so they could lift their family out of poverty.

That would no longer come to fruition after Ranulfo’s younger brother Domingo, whom he suspect was under the influence of illegal drugs, attacked his daughters while they were asleep.

Ranulfo said that after dinner, he and his wife Rosalyn, one of the victim’s namesake, left their house past 7 p.m. as she was hired as “mananabtan” or prayer leader for the 40th-day prayer of a relative who recently died.

“Ako na lang siyang gikuyogan kay atong usang gabii, nadakin-as man siya sa dalan, mahadlok ko’g unsay mahitabo niya,” said.

He said he did not notice anything strange about his younger brother, who even cooked “utan bisaya” for all of them for dinner, before they left the house.

Domingo was staying with Ranulfo and his family after his release from jail last September. Domingo, allegedly a drug user, was jailed after holding a girl hostage.

Ranulfo said they went home after the prayer ended past 9 p.m., and noticed upon their arrival that the house was eerily quiet and the lights were still on.

When his two young grandsons heard their grandparents approaching, they ran towards the door and called out to them saying that their aunty is dead.

“Nidagan ning duha nako ka apo, niingon ‘Lo, Wowa, si aunty patay na’,” Ranulfo quoted the boys, ages two and four, as saying.

Alarmed, Ranulfo and his wife immediately went inside and the first thing they saw was Charmain lying on the floor in a pool of blood. A few feet away from Charmain lay Domingo, also dead.

Ranulfo said he rushed to check on Rosalyn but she, too, was already lifeless, with only part of the skin connecting her severed head to the neck.

Only Rosalyn and Charmain; their parents Ranulfo and Rosalyn; their uncle Domingo; and their young nephews  were in the house as Ranulfo’s other children slept in the house of a daughter who is already married located nearby.

“Pagtan-aw nako sir naputol na ang liog ni Charmain unya akong igsoon pud patay na. Sa pag-adto nako sa taas akong usa ka anak patay na sad naa say tinigbasan sa liog,” Ranulfo said.          

“Ako untang kuanon akong manghod pero unsaon man na nimo nga igputol man na nako og tinai. Unya wa na man sad tay mahimo patay na man siya,” he said.

He remembered how Rosalyn confided to him her dream of becoming a teacher, if not a policewoman.

“Ang akong mga anak kay taas pa kaayo to sila’g ambisyon sa kinabuhi. Sakit kaayo akong gidangatan, di ko kasabot sa akong gibati. Akong asawa niutong na lang pagkakita niya sa nahitabo,” Ranulfo said.

Senior Police Officer 4 Jorame Tanudtanud, Carcar City Police Station investigator, said that when they learned that it was a very gruesome and out-of-the-ordinary crime, they requested the Regional Crime Laboratory to conduct an examination on the bodies.

He said that Charmain suffered a wound in the neck while Rosalyn had a wound in the chest and neck. Both of the victims’ heads, Tanudtanud said, barely clung to their necks.

The policeman theorized that Domingo likely spared the two boys because he returned to his senses after attacking his nieces. That, Tanudtanud said, probably caused Domingo to also kill himself.

The FREEMAN learned that Domingo was released from prison on probation last month after he was convicted for possessing an unlicensed gun he allegedly used in holding a relative hostage last year.

After learning of the incident, Carcar City Mayor Nicepuro Apura said the city government will shoulder the embalming expenses and the coffins of the victims and will extend P10,000 in financial assistance.

Yesterday, he also gave personal money for food of the family and ordered personnel of his office to attend to the needs of the Mangyaos.

Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent Noel Gillamac, Cebu Police Provincial Office director, ordered Superintendent Teodulfo Manatad III, Carcar City police chief, to bring the two boys to the local DSWD office for debriefing.

Also responding to the incident, Carcar City Social Welfare and Development Office personnel took custody of the two children yesterday morning to assess their needs and help them cope with the trauma they likely are suffering now as a result of what they witnessed.

They, however, may have to turn over the two children to the Provincial Council for the Welfare of Children, who wanted custody of the boys.

Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, PCWC co-chairperson, said the children need to undergo psychological interventions.

“Ang among concern ana is naa sila sa state of shock. We want to rescue them, for the psychologist to take care of them,” she told reporters while in her way to a meeting with the PCWC members yesterday.

She believes that the suspect was under the influence of illegal drugs, saying “Nobody in his right mind can do that to the two minors.” — With Michael Vencynth H. Braga/RHM (FREEMAN)