Double death for killer dad

A Manila court meted two death sentences on a 40-year-old overseas Filipino worker yesterday after he was found guilty of killing his two children seven years ago inside their house in Binondo.

Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr., of Manila City Regional Trial Court Branch 26, handed the sentence on a teary-eyed Honorio Tibon for committing two counts of parricide, stabbing his sons Keen Gist, 3, and Reguel Albert, 2, several times on the evening of Dec. 12, 1998,

Pampilo, after hearing the testimonies of witnesses and seeing the evidence presented by both sides, gave more credence to the statements of the prosecution witnesses.

"There being no evidence of due bias or ill motive that would have impelled them to falsely cable deed such as parricide, the Court gives their testimonies worthy of full faith and credit. The children, as shown by the evidence put forth by the prosecution, have been killed by the accused himself," the judge said in his eight-page ruling.

Tibon’s neighbor, Francisco Abello Jr., said the accused had been living with his common-law wife Gina Sumingit until she left for Hong Kong to work as a domestic helper.

He committed the crime after his sister, who is also based in Hong Kong, told him that Sumingit was having an affair.

Court records showed that at 11:30 p.m. of Dec. 12, the suspect stabbed his two sons in a fit of rage.

Medico legal officer Dr. Emmanuel Aranas said Keen Gist sustained abrasions on the forehead, both cheeks, on the chin and five stab wounds, of which four were fatal.

His younger brother sustained three fatal knife wounds on the left side of the chest. The victims were taken to the Mary Johnston Hospital, where they were pronounced dead on arrival.

Tibon, realizing what he had done, tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself on the chest and jumping from the window of his room.

Sumingit immediately flew back to Manila upon learning of her children’s death.

In his defense, Tibon pleaded insanity, telling the court that he had neither no recollection of stabbing his children nor jumping from the window.

On cross-examination, he said he was not in full control of himself.

The National Center for Mental Health conducted a psychiatric evaluation on Tibon. He was found suffering from insanity or psychosis, which is classified under schizophrenia.

He was advised to continue taking anti-psychotic medication to prevent a future relapse.

However, the court did not give weight to Tibon’s insanity plea because "as gleaned from the very testimony of the accused, he was in full control of his faculties before, during and after he committed the stabbing of his children... It is in this regard that the assertion by the accused that he is suffering from insanity must fail."