By Jennifer P. Rendon
Blinded by jealousy, a 55-year-old man admitted to killing his wife morning of Feb. 12 in Mandurriao, Iloilo City.
Domingo Lasa, who declared wanting to end his life the night before the incident, ended up taking his wife’s life after hacking her at 6:15 a.m. on Monday.
The body of 56-year-old Emilyn, a nursing aide at West Visayas State University Medical Center, was found at 2:20 p.m. Monday in a vegetated portion at the back of a mall in Barangay Bolilao, Mandurriao.
The couple has three grown-up children and two grandkids.
Lasa narrated having a fight with his wife because of doubts that she was having an affair with a certain Rene, their neighbor at Bolilao village.
He allegedly tried to grab her wife’s phone after seeing her texting while under the sheets.
Emilyn initially resisted but gave in when her daughter asked her to surrender her phone to the suspect.
Domingo said that it wasn’t the first time that Emilyn was so engrossed in texting even late at night.
At the height of their argument, he mentioned about wanting to commit suicide.
This prompted his daughter to stay by his side until he was able to sleep.
Before 6 a.m., he accompanied his wife to check on their vegetable garden, which was situated in a reclaimed swamp, several hundreds of meters away from their home.
On their way to the area, the suspect said no argument took place between him and his wife.
He let Emilyn walk ahead of him and eventually struck her back with a ginunting bolo. When the woman fell down, the suspect made another blow that hit the victim on her forehead and neck.
Captain Val Cambel, Iloilo City Police Station 5 chief, said the woman may have tried to parry the attack.
This resulted in a defense wound on her left palm. Her index finger was also cut off.
After the incident, Domingo left his wife to bleed. He claimed to have thrown the weapon in the swamp before he went home. He changed his clothes and drove off to Lambunao town.
Cambel said after the discovery of the body, they immediately investigated Domingo who also went missing.
“We already suspected that he did it to his wife because of their children’s statement. We learned that he has family members living in the towns Badiangan and Lambunao in Iloilo province and in Hinigaran, Negros Occidental,” he said.
With the help of an asset, Domingo was monitored to have sought refuge in Barangay Walang, a hinterland village more than 10 kilometers away from Lambunao town proper. He was collared later that evening.
Domingo readily admitted to police investigators that he killed his wife. Aside from jealousy, he also pointed to some marital issues that were just swept under the rug.
Domingo claimed that he stood as a househusband while his wife was working. He did also the household chores – from looking after their children to doing laundry.
Domingo mentioned having low self-esteem because his wife had been telling him that she did a lot of the work while he was just staying home.
Last year, he left home and stayed with family members in Badiangan after he had been receiving lots of rumors of his wife and Rene’s affair.
But he returned in December after his children asked to work out their marital issues. His return was also to ascertain if the rumors of his wife’s affair were true.
But Domingo also admitted that he wasn’t able to confirm his wife’s alleged infidelity till the end.
Cambel said one of the couple’s children and Emilyn’s younger brother already hinted that they would pursue criminal charges against the suspect.
