4 ‘drug addicts’ hunted for Koronadal slay

KORONADAL CITY — A police manhunt is ongoing for four suspected drug addicts, who robbed and stabbed dead the 72-year-old wife of a retired Sultan Kudarat official here last Sunday afternoon.

Senior Superintendent Getulio Napeñas, South Cotabato police director, said he has ordered Superintendent Florendo Quidilla, city police chief, to speed up the investigation for the immediate arrest of the four men who barged into the house of geodetic engineer Angel Baculi, a retired provincial assessor of Sultan Kudarat, in Barangay General P. Santos, and killed his wife, Eufemia.

Baculi, who survived the attack, told The STAR that the four men, aged 18 to 20, entered their house at about noon last Sunday, posing as "clients."

But seconds later, Baculi said the young men, whose eyes he noticed to be reddish, poked a gun to his waist, tied him up and covered his mouth with masking tape. They then punched and kicked him on different parts of his body, he recounted.  

"Nagpatay-patayan na lang ako (I just pretended to be dead)," he said.

A few minutes later, he said the four men came out of their bedroom and then left.

Baculi said he untangled himself and rushed to their room where he saw his wife stabbed several times in the head and neck. Reports said a scissor was used in the killing.

Police probers said the four men carted away cash and jewelry.