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GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 03 October) – A prominent medical practitioner here on Monday called on the government to put more attention on mental health concerns following a bizarre incident that took the life of two toddlers by a deranged father of one of the victims in Sarangani province.
Three others were severely wounded in the incident.
Dr. Renato Diagan, president of the General Santos City Hospital Association, said government authorities tend to look only at mental health issues only when a pressing problem arises.
He said the government must give utmost attention to the growing problem of mental disorders among residents, which usually takes a back seat in the implementation of government programs and projects.
He noted the need to put greater concern on mental health, especially with what everyone went through in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
He cited an incident in Sarangani province late afternoon on Saturday, October 1, when a farmer suffering from schizophrenia went berserk and chopped to death his two-year old son and a four-year niece in a fit that also wounded his sister-in-law, a one-week-old nephew and a seven-year-old niece.
The gruesome incident took place in Sitio Tapal, Barangay Datalbukay, a hinterland village predominantly inhabited by the Blaan indigenous people in the town of Glan, Sarangani province’s top tourist destination known for its powdery white sand beaches.
Sitio Tapal is a 15-hour walk across mountains and streams to the Glan town center. Inaccessible to four-wheel vehicles, Datalbukay is a six-hour motorcycle ride from Glan población.
Lieutenant Colonel Geovanni Ladeo, Glan town police chief, identified the man who ran amuck as 30-year-old farmer Jovel Pondong, who was subsequently shot dead by his cousin, a village volunteer.
Ladeo on Sunday said their investigation revealed that Jovel first killed his toddler son Botyok using a machete and afterwards went up the house of his brother Bentor and hacked everyone there, killing Arriana Dala Pondong, 4, daughter of Bentor, who is the sitio chairman.
Jovel’s machete-wielding rampage seriously injured Bentor’s wife Rose Ann, 26, her one-week-old son Vincent and daughter Ashley, 7. All the victims sustained gaping wounds in their faces, hands and bodies.
Ricardo Almodivar Fuentes, a resident of Datalbukay, said Jovel and his toddler-son moved to his brother Bentor’s house barely a month ago.
Jovel’s mother Jessica said his son’s wife left him and their son a year ago after he hacked her, but the wife managed to survive.
The mother said his son had been suffering from a psychological disorder and had been through violent episodes.
Police Lieutenant Ian Hasper Garcinez, deputy chief for operations of the Glan police, said they only learned that Jovel had a psychological disorder from Jessica.
“Controlled ang sakit niya, maaring di nakainom ng gamut (His illness is medicated, maybe he forgot to take his medicine),” he added. “This should serve as a lesson to all.”
Police Corporal Lue Ripdos, investigator of the Glan police, said a Boy Pondong, 39, the cousin of Jovel who shot and killed him gave himself up to the police after the incident.
Boy said he rushed to the house of Bentor after the latter called him via a two-way handheld radio. The sitio chairman arrived at the scene ahead of Boy and found his daughter dead, his wife, their week-old baby and seven-year-old daughter severely wounded.
“There was blood all over when I got into the house,” Boy said, but did not find Jovel when he arrived at the crime scene. He said he saw a still shocked Bentor, whom he approached and took the knife he was holding.
Boy told investigators that he shot his cousin Jovel with a Suritsurit, a home-made gun when he saw him emerging from a vegetable patch holding a machete and was mumbling in the dialect, “This is where we end.”
The shot sent Jovel slumped dead to the ground. Family members then brought the wounded victims to a hospital in Glan población and later moved to the Diagan Hospital in General Santos City.
Bentor said he walked for hours in the dark of night, carrying his wounded daughter to the hospital in Glan. “It was an ordeal, just imagine,” he said in the vernacular. (Rommel G. Rebollido / MindaNews)
