CEBU, Philippines - Injury to the head inflicted using a hard object caused the death of Virginia Sharpe and her daughter Mica Ella, who were found inside the septic tank of their house in Deca Homes 2, Barangay Tungkil, Minglanilla town Thursday morning.
In a telephone interview, Chief Inspector Richard Gadingan, Minglanilla Police Station chief, said the victims were bludgeoned in the head and that neither were stabbed nor molested.
“Walay dunggab ug rape, gibunalan sa ulo maoy hinungdan sa kamatayon, basi sa resulta sa autopsy,” he said.
Gadingan said this after he received the result from the medico-legal officer, amid speculations that both the victims may have been raped and stabbed to death.
He said that with the findings, they would now be preparing double murder charges against laborers Manuel Labrador, Estelito Ricamora, and George Baquiran, all of Lower Calajoan, Minglanilla.
Labrador told The FREEMAN that he was asked by Virginia to look for a person to help him clean the house last Saturday night so he fetched Ricamora.
Labrador said that when they arrived at Virginia’s house, he went to the second floor to continue his task in renovating the house while Ricamora was left downstairs.
Ricamora allegedly brought a pack of suspected shabu and asked Labrador to sniff shabu before the crime happened.
Labrador said that not long after he went upstairs he heard Ricamora call for him. He said that when he came down he saw the bodies of both mother and daughter still convulsing on the floor, apparently after being hit by a hard object to the head.
Ricamora, Labrador alleged, then asked him to hit the victims again with the handle of a claw hammer to make sure they were died. They allegedly then threw them inside the septic tank, which they then sealed off with concrete.
Labrador also alleged that he even tried to dissuade Ricamora from getting the victims’ mountain bike and tablet computer. Ricamora, however, denied killing Virginia and Mica Ella and narrated a different story.
Ricamora, who was placed in a separate cell, said that that past 2 p.m. last Sunday, Labrador asked to help him bury a dead dog.
“Nanglaba ko sa amoa kauban sa akong misis, nihangyo man na siya nga patabang siya og lubong sa iro maong nisu-got ko. Pero pag-abot nako didto niana man na siya nga tawo raba na,” Ricamora said.
He alleged that when they arrived at the house, he saw two bodies inside the comfort room and told Labrador.
He said he told Labrador that he won’t help him but obliged out of fear for his life.
“Gilabay na namo sa sulod sir. Nagtalikod ko kay di ko kaagwanta. Di man gani ta halos moihaw og manok tawo pa ba kaha,” Ricamora said.
He said that after they have placed the bodies in the septic tank they placed plywood over them and sealed the tank with cement and placed floor tiles on top.
Ricamora said that when he went inside the house the bodies were already emitting foul odor, which suggested that the crime must have happened way before.
As to the tablet computer, he said Labrador told him to take the gadget and sell it. (Ricamora’s wife later turned the tablet computer over to the police after her husband’s arrest.)
Baquiran, who shared Ricamora’s detention cell and was crying when The FREEMAN came, said he has no involvement in the crime, which both Ricamora and Labrador corroborated.
Baquiran asked that the police properly investigate the crime so that he would be released from detention.
Gadingan, though, said Baquiran’s name surfaced during their initial investigation so he would be included as suspect in the filing of a double murder complaint.
The police official said it is for the court to determine if Baquiran is really innocent or not.
Meanwhile, Virginia’s mother Narcisa Quilojano, 71, told reporters that if given a chance she would also hit the suspects in the head for them to know the pain they inflicted to her daughter and her granddaughter.
Virginia’s husband is also set to arrive in Cebu today to facilitate the cremation of the remains of the victims before transporting the ashes to Zamboanga del Sur. — /RHM (FREEMAN)