Cebu rage victims come home to kin in Sorsogon

SORSOGON CITY—Melinda Dio Ponce and her children Elaine Grace, Heather Joy and Elin Bridge came home to Sorsogon for the last time and, as usual, without Melinda’s husband Emmanuel.

The remains of the four members of the Ponce family, who were killed in a fit of rage by Emmanuel, were brought here on Monday in a homecoming that Melinda’s relatives here said she used to make every year without her husband.

Emmanuel shot himself dead in the family home in Talisay City, Cebu, after killing Melinda and their three children last Oct. 16.

The cream-white coffins of Melinda, 53, a bank manager; daughters Elaine Grace, 26, and Heather Joy, 25; and son Elin Bridge, 18, were brought for a wake to the San Antonio Funeral Homes here. Their burial was set on Thursday.

Aside from Melinda and the Ponce children, Emmanuel also killed house help Anatacia Deniega.

Sevilla Dio Lumagod, 49, sister of Melinda, said she couldn’t comprehend the fate that befell her sister. She had thought of her sister suffering violence, though, as a result of the fights Melinda often had with Emmanuel.

Lumagod, who said she was the closest to her sister Melinda, said the stormy relationship between Melinda and her husband was not a secret to Melinda’s relatives here.

Melinda, said Lumagod, was very close to her family here and would come to visit every year, without Emmanuel.