MANILA, Philippines — A man surrendered to police in Taguig City after killing his two children yesterday, a day after his wife’s death.
Aiko Siacunco, 28, admitted to strangling his three-year-old daughter and one-year-old son in their room at his father’s house in Barangay North Signal, according to a report sent to city police chief Col. Celso Rodriguez.
At the time of his surrender, Siacunco’s white shirt was stained with blood. The report did not explain the bloodstained shirt.
Rodriguez said Siacunco turned himself in after surviving an attempt to hang himself. Following his surrender, police officers rushed to Siacunco’s room at around 7:30 a.m. and found it in disarray. The floor was covered with unidentified stains and the children’s bodies were lying on a mattress on the floor.
In radio interviews, Rodriguez said Siacunco’s wife, Karina, 28, hung herself on Thursday, a claim that her family denied.
Siacunco and his wife, who worked as a call center agent, had been arguing over his failure to find a job since the government imposed a lockdown in March, police said.
Siacunco faces parricide charges, Rodriguez said.
The National Center for Mental Health’s crisis hotlines are 1553, 0917-8998727 and (7)989-8727.– Sheila Crisostomo