‘Blame the devil,’ says father of confessed killer
HE may have been separated from his family, but Virgilio Dalangin still cared enough to visit the wake of his murdered ex-wife at St. Peter’s Memorial Chapel in New Imus Road, Cebu City, yesterday.
“I try to laugh at it. Kahit ganito ako, biyak ang puso ko (Although I act this way, my heart is broken),” Dalangin told Cebu Daily News.
He flew to Cebu City from Manila after learning about last week’s murder.
His former wife Rubirosa Tenchavez was killed by their youngest son Christian “Lucky” Dalangin at their home in barangay Mambaling, Cebu City, last week.
Virgilio, who was reluctant to be interviewed, said he didn’t want his family’s ordeal further publicized.
“It’s painful. I love my children. I know they are not capable of committing a crime,” he said.
Article continues after this advertisementHe said if there’s anyone who should be held responsible, it’s the “devil.”
Article continues after this advertisementHis two other sons, Mark Oliver, 32 and Michael John, 29, also arrived in Cebu last Monday. Mark Oliver said the family is still deciding what to do next. Both men are nurses working in New Zealand and Singapore.
Christian, 25, is detained at the Cebu City Jail pending the court’s verdict on the parricide case filed against him.
He earlier confessed to killing his mother by cutting her throat with a kitchen knife after she scolded him about breaking floor tiles and damaging the computer.
Two friends were hired to dig a hole in the stockroom, which they thought was for a septic tank.
Christian said he hid his mother’s body there and covered it with soil and cement. Word of the secret burial leaked to law enforcers prompting agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) to arrest him, and secure a search warrant to enter the house and retrieve the mother’s body.
NBI agents and Christian, in interviews after the arrest, confirmed that the nursing graduate was a drug dependent who used shabu before and after the killing.
The mother’s remains were cremated last Saturday.The victim’s sister Nora Tenchavez-Mayubay said the family may bring Rubirosa’s ashes out of the country. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol
