Man nabbed for beating 1-year-old son to death

MANILA, Philippines - A jobless man was arrested after his one-year-old son was found dead in his crib in Barangay Holy Spirit, Quezon City Sunday night, an official said yesterday.

Nazareno Mendiola, 36, was seen by his neighbor, George Romero, allegedly holding his son, Tylor Jerick, upside down and beating the toddler Saturday night, Police Officer 3 Roldan Cornejo said.

Inspector Elmer Monsalve, who heads the Quezon City Police District’s homicide investigation section, said the Tylor’s mother, Gerald Loraine Perez, was not around when the beating happened.

Mendiola and Perez have four children and the victim is their third child, Cornejo said.

Perez asked her neighbor, Ernalyn Sollegue, to check on the toddler Sunday night. Sollegue found Tylor was dead in his crib, Cornejo said.

The boy was taken to a clinic then to the East Avenue Medical Center, where he was declared dead on arrival, he said, adding that Tylor died of traumatic head injuries.

Cornejo said Mendiola, who faces a parricide charge, was arrested near the barangay hall after police received calls from a relative of the boy.