After killing his 3 siblings, losing bet surrenders

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Two days after he killed his brother and two sisters in Pontevedra town of Capiz, Manuel Arcenas, a defeated councilman candidate in the Oct. 28 barangay elections, has finally surrendered to the police at Villa San Lorenzo Subdivision in La Paz district of this city Wednesday afternoon.

Sixty-two-year-old Arcenas voluntarily surrendered to policemen after negotiations by his wife, daughter and Pontevedra Mayor Esteban Jose Contreras.

Arcenas, also an outgoing barangay chairman of Manapao in Pontevedra, was the suspect in the killing of his younger brother Ramon, 56, and sisters Jennifer Arcenas-Nuyles, 53, and Evelyn Arcenas-Espinar, 51, after he lost his bid for barangay councilman.

Arcenas backed up his daughter Isabela for the post of barangay chair in a bid to replace him, but she also lost her candidacy to his uncle Ramon.

The suspect used a carbine rifle and two .45-caliber pistols in killing the victims while Ramon was celebrating his victory at their residence.

Contreras said Arcenas told him that he lost his mind after knowing he and his daughter Isabela lost their candidacies.

The mayor however, said the family has a long standing grudge over a land dispute a long time ago and politics was just a secondary reason of the killing.

On the same day of his arrest, Arcenas was brought to the Police Regional Office-6 headquarters at Camp Delgado, Iloilo City for interrogation.

After the investigation, PRO-6 director Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz ordered his men to bring Arcenas back to Capiz where he will be detained and undergo inquest proceedings. The police official said Arcenas will be charged with three counts of parricide. (FREEMAN)