Workers attack QC family; 2 dead, 1 hurt
TWO MEN were taken into custody while another was still being hunted down by the police on Tuesday for an assault on a Quezon City family that left the mother and son dead and the father wounded.
The three were stay-in construction workers hired to build an apartment next to the victims’ home on 1st Street, Bitoon Circle, Barangay Commonwealth. They allegedly hit three members of the family with steel pipes shortly after midnight Monday.
The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) tagged Edilberto Escandor, Bernabe Escario and Virgilio Beloy Del Rosario—all from Muntinlupa City—as prime suspects in the killing of Princesita Villanueva, 66, and her son Christian, 36.
The father, Ruben Villanueva, a 67-year-old retired government employee, survived blows to the head and remained in a hospital Tuesday.
Escandor, 27, appeared to be drunk when the police found him still inside the victims’ house early Monday. Escario, 49, a native of Sorsogon province who gave his current address at Sitio Pagkakaisa, Barangay Sucat, Muntinlupa, was handed over by his mother to the Muntinlupa police.
Del Rosario, a native of Leyte province, remains at large and is now the target of a manhunt by the Quezon City Police District, said Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo, chief of the QCPD Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.
The arrested suspects pointed to Del Rosario as the only one who carried out the attack by following Ruben Villanueva to the toilet and hitting him several times with a steel pipe.
According to them, Del Rosario turned to the son, Christian, when the younger Villanueva heard the commotion and rushed to his father’s aid. Del Rosario then went to the mother’s room and also beat her to death.
PO2 George Caculba, the investigator on the case, said the workers may have been provoked by Princesita, who reportedly scolded them for often staying out late and getting drunk.
Marcelo said it was also learned that the workers earlier asked for a cash advance but the request was denied by Ruben.
