Parricide raps filed versus lola

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – The police filed parricide case Friday at the city prosecutor’s office here against a 52-year-old grandmother who allegedly killed her own two-month-old grandson by strangulating him and kept him inside a traveling bag.

Superintendent Mariano Luis Verzosa, police chief here, told The STAR yesterday that the police took the initiative to file the case against Josephine Patalinhug, 52, of Guilig St. this city, after her daughter who is the mother of the victim refused to sue her.

Verzosa said the baby’s body underwent autopsy that showed he died of strangulation and he suffered from whips of hard objects.

Patalinhug was reportedly irked when the baby kept on crying after her mom was to go to work Monday and left him under her care. But Pata­linhug left the house around 8:30 a.m. that day and went missing together with the baby. 

She returned home noon the following day and their relatives were surprised to discover the baby was inside a bag already dead.

Verzosa said Patalinhug’s daughter alleged her mom was suffering from mental disturbance but it was her first time to commit such crime. She said their family was not interested to file a case against her mom.

However, the police chief said despite this reason, the police filed the case as it is a public crime.

He said the suspect was accompanied by the police yesterday for a mental check-up at the Baguio General Hospital to prove her family’s claim that she was mentally unstable.– Eva Visperas