70-year-old woman with history of mental illness hacks husband, daughter

MANTICAO, Misamis Oriental, Philippines — Police are bent on filing charges against a 70-year-old woman with a history of mental illness who hacked her husband and daughter to death last Friday.

Lt. Chance Ramirez, Manticao police chief, said his office had already prepared a parricide case against Vivina Bagares Loresca, even as a probe showed she had signs of mental disorder.

“It is up to the court to decide on the mental status of the suspect,” Ramirez said.

Vivina’s three granddaughters, aged 13, 10, and 8, pointed to her as responsible for the death of their grandfather Luciano, 70, and mother Elvie, 40, Ramirez disclosed.

They were asleep in their home in Barangay Cabalantian when Vivina hacked them just before daybreak.

The three children, according to Ramirez, were able to get out of the house despite their hack wounds.

A doctor treated the children’s wounds and declared them out of danger.

Ramirez said that when Vivina showed “lucid intervals” while being interviewed in detention.

Vivina said that her husband and daughter were killed by an otherworldly creature. She said she grabbed a sickle to kill the creature when she saw her husband and daughter soaked in blood.

Ramirez noted that Vivina, after hacking her husband and daughter, brought her grandchildren to the barangay health center for treatment.

When interviewed, neighbors told police probers that Vivina seemed relieved from her fit of violence when she discovered her grandchildren were bloodied.

Loida Abragan, one of Vivina’s daughters, said the family was still mourning the death of their brother from a lingering illness three days ago, his wake being held at the community chapel.

On Thursday evening, she asked her sister Elvie to take their mother home from the wake as she seemed tired. At this point, their mother began to show fits of anger and violence.

“She began cursing and blaming an otherworldly creature for taking the life of our brother,” Abragan recalled.

Abragan revealed that some 20 years ago Vivina suffered depression when a sibling close to her died.

Soon, she was diagnosed as having a mental disorder and placed under medication.

“She roamed around aimlessly and talked to herself. But she was never violent,” Abragan said.

Abragan said she noticed her mother’s depression showed up again when her brother died.

“She is very close to my brother who was a bachelor and lived with them and helped in the farm,” Abragan said.

A day before the incident, Vivina received her social pension from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), according to Mary Joy Lagrosas, head of the Manticao social welfare office.

/atm