MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – Authorities were set to file criminal charges yesterday against three brothers who killed their 56-year-old mother and ate her internal organs in Ampatuan town.
The suspects – Dante Amil, 35, and his younger brothers, Paroy, 21, and Ibrahim, 18, – surrendered when barangay officials came to their farm last Wednesday, hours after the incident.
The father of the three suspects was also held for questioning.
The siblings could be under the influence of drugs when they hogtied their mother, Akrima Amil, and butchered her using machetes, their neighbors said.
The suspects ate parts of the victim’s body raw, according to investigators and personnel of the municipal health office.
Local officials said town elders believe evil spirits possessed the suspects. A local shaman, according to investigators, had subjected them to rituals.
Community leaders in Barangay Kamasi said the three men did not have any criminal records in the barangay.
Anwar Emblawa, a municipal councilor from the nearby Datu Abdullah Sangki town, said the suspects are identified with a clan in Barangay Dasikil, also in Ampatuan, which is described in folklore as a “haven†of ghouls.