Veteran Baguio artist nabbed for homicide try

BAGUIO CITY – Veteran artist William Magtibay, a founder of the Baguio Arts Guild (BAG), was arrested on Monday (Nov. 5) for allegedly attempting to suffocate a student with a blanket on Sunday (Nov. 4), police said.

The student, a 29-year-old woman, accused Magtibay, 64, of wrapping a blanket around her face and neck while they were having drinks at her condominium unit in Barangay (village) Gibraltar.

The police report did not say what prompted the artist to attack the woman, who reportedly fought off Magtibay until she fell unconscious.

Magtibay fled as soon as the woman collapsed.

When she woke up, the woman called the police who arrested Magtibay at his Kennon Road home at 5 a.m. Magtibay was scheduled to be released on bail at 5 p.m. on Monday.

Magtibay helped organize BAG in 1988 along with national artists Bencab (painter Benedicto Reyes Cabrera) and Kidlat Tahimik (filmmaker Eric de Guia), and other acclaimed artists who made Baguio their home. BAG helped establish the mountain city as a premiere art community./lb