The city of Canlaon in Negros Occidental is in a state of shock and disbelief after a seven-year-old boy was allegedly killed and stuffed in a sack by his own mother, a returning OFW, on Thursday afternoon.
The body of AJ Mellares was found by his grandfather, retired Senior Police Officer 4 Monreal (no first name was given), who went to his daughter’s house in Barangay Mabigo, Canlaon, to check on his two grandsons, aged seven and five.
The grandfather is a neighbor of the victim and the suspect.
PO2 Jonalyn Cubero, chief of the Women and Children’s Protection Desk of Canlaon City, said that around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Monreal went to the house of his daughter, Eldrin Ann Mellares, 34, to visit his grandsons.
When he asked his daughter about the kids, the suspect calmly told him that she killed her son, tied his hands and placed his body in a sack at the back of their house.
The grandfather hurriedly went to the back of the house to check if his daughter was telling the truth and got the shock of his life when he saw the sack containing the lifeless and bruised body of his grandson.
Cubero added that it was the grandfather who called the police and surrendered his daughter. A case of parricide was filed against Mellares on Friday afternoon.
Monreal said his daughter was long separated from her husband. To support her two kids, the suspect worked abroad and returned two months ago.
Canlaon City Councilor Valentin Armonio told Cebu Daily News via phone that he will ask the City Council to initiate a probe if Mellares was abused while she was working abroad.