Woman, 36, 'hacks' boy, 5

CEBU, Philippines -  A five-year-old boy suffered lacerations on the head and body after a woman allegedly attacked him with a bolo last Wednesday afternoon in Lapu-Lapu City.

 Neighbors found the boy all bloodied and lying on the ground. He was taken to hospital in critical condition. The boy sustained cuts and bruises on the head and body, and his left little finger was found barely clinging to the hand.

 Police arrested Gladys Castillo, 36, of sitio Saac, barangay Buaya, allegedly an entertainer of a videoke bar.

 SPO3 Editha Patalinjug of Women and Children's Desk said the boy and his friends were playing outside their house when the woman approached them saying "Ikaw gakuha sa higot nga pisi (Was it you who took the rope)?"

 Before he could answer, the woman suddenly struck the boy several times with a bolo measuring eight and half inches long.

 The woman denied she attacked the boy, claiming she did not know him and that she was sleeping when the incident happened.

 "Wa ko kaila ato nila. Layo man pud to ila mga eight or nine ka balay. Sa pagkahitabo natog man ko. Nay nangutana nako naunsa ang bata kay nagkadugo kuno," Castillo said.

The boy's father said the woman could be insane but SPO3 Patalinjug said the police will check the woman's medical and psychological records. — THE FREEMAN