Nueva Vizcaya pa in jail for killing wife, 2 kids

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — A 37-year-old jobless father is languishing in jail here for the killing of his own wife and two daughters aged seven and nine, last Dec. 1.

Massacre suspect Ernesto Calonge was transferred to the provincial jail from the Veterans Regional Hospital here where he was confined for wounds he had reportedly inflicted on himself.

Police said Calonge woun—ded himself after he allegedly hacked to death his 35-year-old wife Rosita and daughters Dony Rose, 9, and Kimberly, 7, in Villaverde town, about 40 kilometers from this capital town.

The couple’s eldest daughter, 11-year-old Melody, survived despite hack wounds in different parts of the body. She is the lone witness to the killing.

Senior Inspector Ric Rosario, Villaverde police chief, said Calonge, a native of Cebu, is facing three counts of parricide and one count of frustrated parricide in the sala of Municipal Circuit Trial Court Judge Tranquilino Ramos here.

Ramos, who presided over the pre-trial last Dec. 18, has yet to schedule the arraignment of Calonge who has blamed unknown individuals as responsible for the killing.

Melody told probers her father, for no apparent reason, attacked them, causing them to run for cover. "He only stopped when (my mother and two siblings) were dead. I played dead," she said.

She confessed that she saw her father rubbing blood on his body after hacking them. Investigators believe Calonge’s bruises were self-inflicted to make it appear that unknown men pulled off the massacre.

Rosario said the victims died of multiple hack wounds in the chest, shoulder, head and abdomen with the use of a one-foot, seven-inch bolo and a one-foot, one-inch knife.

Melody said her father had frequently beaten up her mother and sisters even for "little mistakes."

Barangay head Benito Dung-ao said Calonge was often seen apparently out of his mind prior to the incident, even telling his neighbors that he would kill his family. — Charlie Lagasca