MANILA, Philippines — A neighborly visit to a woman’s house at an ungodly hour proved fatal on Sunday to a 27-year-old automobile repair shop helper who was stabbed dead in a brawl with three other male guests in Quezon City.
Howard Oliver Abina III, a resident of Salanap Compound, Sitio Mendez in Barangay (village) Baesa, was killed instantly while his 37-year-old companion and neighbor Danilo Corpuz was wounded in the melee but survived by bringing himself to the East Avenue Medical Center for treatment.
Corpuz, Quezon City police investigators said, had triggered the brawl with the three men who fled after the knife attack and have become subjects of a hunt.
Senior Police Officer 1 Cristituto Zaldarriaga, of the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU), said that brawl happened at around 1:30 a.m., inside the house of a Shirley Oliveria at Salanap Compound, Sitio Mendez in Barangay Baesa.
Zaldarriaga said that when Abina and Corpuz arrived at Oliveria’s house, they found three other male guests already seated in the living room.
The case investigator said that Corpuz suddenly asked one of the men, “Why? Is there a problem?” which sparked an argument and subsequently a fist-fight between them. Abina tried to help his companion during the brawl but was stabbed in the right side of the chest by one of the men.
Abina died instantly while Corpuz, who was likewise stabbed, managed to bring himself to the nearest hospital and seek treatment.