All that Judith Barliso could do was stroke the face of her 10-year-old daughter who lay lifeless on the floor of their nipa shack for almost two days.
Her daughter Ronela, who was called “Lilay” by the family, was found at home strangled by the rope cords of a hammock in sitio Taop of the mountain barangay of Buot, Cebu City.
The girl, who was looking after her one-year-old brother, Judill, was found dead by a 12-year-old neighbor around 9 a.m. last Monday.
In a radio dyHP interview, SP04 Alex Dacua said the incident will be investigated further.
He said it was possible the death was a freak accident.
He said the cords may have coiled around her neck accidentally when the little girl inserted her head between the gap of a split rope of the swinging hammock and got choked.
“I think she was just really playing when this happened,” he said.
Ronela’s parents said they were willing to submit to an investigation if needed although police said they saw no sign of foul play at this point.
A 12-year-old neighbor who went to the Barsilos’ house to ask for firewood found the victim.
The playmate said she first peeped into the house and called out to Ronela, even banging the wall, but noticed the girl was not moving and didn’t respond.
The neighbor said Ronela was in a kneeling position with her face covered by her hair and the rope of the hammock coiled around her neck.
“Nisyagit ko’g ‘Hala, nahikog man ni siya, oy! (I screamed thinking she had killed herself),” said the child.
Neighbors rushed to the house to help the victim while some went out to call her parents.
When the father Nelson arrived, he tried to revive his daughter but it was too late. He later reported the tragedy to the Cebu City Police Office.
The 37-year-old father said he last saw his daughter alive when she visited him at the house of his wife’s aunt about 10 meters away, where he was working on the flooring.
Nelson said that Ronela brought her baby brother and asked for a piece of bead to eat.
After she was given bread, Ronela again asked for softdrinks but she was told to go back to their house first to dress up her baby brother.
“I told her to go back to the house first to put shorts on her brother,” Nelso said in Cebuano.
Her mother was at the river doing laundry and gathering gravel stones at the time.
Police said it was possible that when she got home, the little girl played with her brother in the hammock as they often do.
“They always play with the hammock. I’ve scolded them many times about it because they may fall down and get hurt. The hammock often gets torn and I have to keep sewing it,” said Judith, the mother.
The father said he wondered why Ronela didn’t return to him for the softdrinks he promised but thought she was just putting her baby brother to sleep.
With no money for a long vigil wake, the family just placed candles and flowers around Ronela’s body laid on a blanket inside the hut for two days.
Yesterday they buried her in a plywood coffin in sitio Mawmawan, barangay Babag.
Ronela’s parents said they can’t believe Lilay strangled herself on purpose.
“She was a very good child, very affectionate. Every night, we would sleep close together as a family,” said the mother./WITH A REPORT FROM CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON