Parricide raps filed vs husband in Sta. Rosa slays

SAN PEDRO CITY—Police on Monday filed parricide charges against Richard Sta. Ana, the husband of the woman who was killed with her son inside their house in Sta. Rosa City in Laguna province on March 2.

Senior Supt. Ronnie Montejo, Laguna provincial police director, said the parricide charges against Sta. Ana were filed at the Sta. Rosa City prosecutor’s office.

Separate charges of homicide were filed against Ramoncito Gallo and another suspect.

Gallo, 25, surrendered to authorities on Friday. The police withheld the name of the other suspect while manhunt operations continue.

In his statement to the police, Gallo said Sta. Ana, 29, contracted them to kill Pearl Helene Sta. Ana, 29, and their one-year-old son, Denzel.
Pearl and Denzel were killed by men who posed as Internet service repairmen. Autopsy reports showed that the suspects used a hammer as a murder weapon. Pearl was also raped.

Denzel died in a hospital hours after the attack, while Pearl passed away on March 5.

Quoting Gallo’s statement to the police, Montejo said Sta. Ana paid the suspects an initial P10,000 and gave them another P50,000 after the crime.
He said Sta. Ana did not tell the suspects the job involved the killing of his wife. What Sta. Ana told the killers, Montejo said, was the target was “a spouse of his (Sta. Ana’s) sibling who was having an affair.” Sta. Ana allegedly wanted to exact revenge.

“The word he used was ‘resbak,’” he said.

Killing the child, Montejo said, was part of the plan that Sta. Ana discussed with the other suspects, Montejo said.

In a separate telephone interview, lawyer Persida Acosta, chief of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), who is representing Sta. Ana, said their client was not hiding.

“He is innocent per evidence,” Acosta said.

“Why would a father have his child, who looked very much like him, killed?” she said.

“If those were really hired killers, why leave [their targets] alive?” Acosta added. JE