CEBU CITY - To save her mother’s life, an 11-year-old girl stabbed her father during a fight inside their house in Barangay Canbanua, Argao, Cebu, late Sunday night. He died.
Pearl, 11, accidentally killed Edmund, 38, by stabbing him in the chest with a knife, after she saw him hitting her mother’s head and trying to cut her leg with a saw.
Sun.Star Cebu is withholding the real names of the family to protect the children.
Cases of violence against women have been rising since 2006, according to police records. The Philippine Commission on Women reported in May that the number of these cases went up from 4,881 in 2006 to 15,104 in 2010.
CEBU. Neighbors look inside the house in Barangay Canbanua, Argao, Cebu where a father was stabbed, allegedly by his daughter, while he was attacking his partner, her mother. (Arni Aclao)
Inspector Alejandro Batobalonos, Argao town’s police chief, said the fight happened past 11 p.m. after Edmund came home reportedly reeking of alcohol.
His live-in partner Sheila, 37, confronted him about his philandering ways.
When Edmund tried to hurt her, she allegedly grabbed a saw and bolo and started waving them. Edmund, after trying to grab the weapons, found a piece of wood and struck Sheila in the head. She fell.
She was still unconscious when Edmund allegedly began to saw off her leg.
Pearl then seized a knife and stabbed her father.
Edmund managed to go outside to seek help but tumbled into a vacant grassy lot, about 100 meters away from his house, where he was found later.
Batobalonos said they drove Edmund to the Isidro Kintanar Memorial Hospital, the town’s district infirmary, but he didn’t make it alive.
Sheila was also brought to the same hospital and was already discharged Monday. She had wounds in her head, both arms, and leg.
She was advised to take an anti-tetanus serum because the tools recovered inside the house were already rusty.
Usually fought
Their neighbors recalled they heard the couple arguing but ignored it because they thought it was just one of the couple’s usual fights.
On one occasion, Edmund allegedly destroyed the wall of their house in the middle of a fight.
Hours before the attack last Sunday, Jacqueline Camposo, 29, recalled that Pearl told her she might kill her father if he laid a hand on her mother again.
“Sa una, modagan ni sila sa amo para motago unya mangayo ug tabang. Ni-grabe gyud karon (They used to run to my house to hide and ask for help. But the fights have gotten worse),” she said.
Police took custody of Pearl but transferred her to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Central Visayas.
Serena Porte, social welfare assistant designate, said the girl, who already underwent stress debriefing, will still need to undergo several counseling sessions.
“She was traumatized. She kept on crying,” she added.
Porte said they will provide temporary shelter to the child and her two sisters, if they don’t feel safe.
No charges
Pearl will not be criminally held liable because she is a minor, police said.
Section 6 of Republic Act 9344, or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, states: “A child 15 years of age or under at the time of the commission of the offense shall be exempt from criminal liability.”
Sheila, in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu, said her daughter didn’t intend to kill her father.
“Abi niya namatay nako. Puslan man nga mawa ko, maayo pa kuno mamatay sad iyang papa. Mabalaka siya unsa’y mahitabo nilang magsuon (She thought I was dead. She figured it would be better for her father to die, too. She was anxious about what would happen to her siblings),” she said.
After their relationship went sour, Sheila said she only stayed for the sake of the children.
The couple lived for 15 years together and had three daughters. A 13-year-old girl is the eldest, Pearl came second, and the third was born just two months ago.
Sheila said she told Edmund to stay with them only because of their children. They never married because his previous marriage in civil rights had never been annulled.
Affair ended
The legal wife was Edmund’s neighbor in Barangay Alimbijud, where he grew up. They had a boy.
He had fathered six children with different women, one of Edmund’s aunts said.
“Daghan gyud nga babaye ang moduol ani niya (He could attract a lot of women),” she said.
Edmund used to work as a driver of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), but was allegedly sacked following an affair with a married officemate.
He then worked for Argao Mayor Edsel Gallos in the latter’s business but was let go recently, after allegedly fooling around with one co-worker’s wife.
Police received a complaint against Edmund last week when his co-worker’s wife didn’t return home. The two allegedly hid near a beach resort in Argao.
Batobalonos said the affair had ended, but the two were seen again last Saturday, having dinner together.(Sun.Star Cebu)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on September 18, 2012.
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