Barangay Tayud tanod Rogelio Quinaging points to the area where fisherman Dominic Pahugot decapitated his common-law partner Lovely Quino. (CDN Photo/Norman V. Mendoza)
Despite their frequent quarrels, common-law couple Dominic “Mingkoy” Pahugot and Lovely Jane Quino seemed to be quite happy together at their home in Sitio Libo, Barangay Tayud in Consolacion town, northern Cebu last Saturday.
“Gahapon maayo pa kaayo siya sige lang og katawa-katawa asta iyang asawa (Yesterday, he seems okay. He was happy, even his partner),” Pahugot’s mother Angelica said. Sadly it was to be their last happy day.
Pahugot and Quino figured in a heated argument that led to him hacking her several times before beheading her at 6 a.m. yesterday.
Police arrived in the area too late as they found Quino’s headless remains near the kitchen door.
But they managed to shoot down Pahugot who tried to swim away only to run amuck and try to attack the police after they urged him to surrender.
Quino worked as a laundrywoman while Pahugot was a fisherman.
Angelica admitted that Mingkoy and his brother Ace Vergel were drug users.
One of the witnesses identified as Teresita Tolentin said she saw Pahugot telling Quino to “hang herself” and Quino refused, saying she won’t nag him anymore.
Angelica said the couple was always fighting over her son’s inability to find a better job.
Ariel Igot, the couple’s neighbor, said he saw Pahugot hacking Quino repeatedly, and she fell to the ground unconscious.
He said Pahugot then revived her and upon seeing that she was still breathing, hacked her anew.
Igot said he and the other neighbors were unable to stop him for fear of being attacked.
A neighbor named Eric, who saw Pahugot attacking Quino, had to run for safety after being chased by Pahugot who waved a bolo and knife at him and then knocked on the door of his house repeatedly.
“Among gi-report sa gwardya diha daplin sa dalan aron unta pasalbahan pero nibalibad man ang gwardya (We reported the incident to the security guard of a nearby company to warn Pahugot, but the guard refused),” Igot said.
A barangay tanod named Rogelio Quinaging who lives nearby called the police.
Another neighbor, Arlene Ople, was doing laundry at a nearby artesian well when she saw Pahugot attack Quino and ran to her home, locking herself up.
After beheading Quino, the neighbors saw Pahugot burning down a shanty before heading to the fishpond area.
Supt. Mina Domingo, Consolacion municipal police chief, said the police saw Quiño’s headless remains seated near the kitchen door.
She said Quino’s head was found in a pail of water at the backyard nine meters away.
Domingo said the suspect tried to escape and swam in the nearest pond with two bolo knives in his hands.
“When he saw the police, Pahugot ran amuck,” she said.
Domingo said the police told him to surrender, but Pahugot responded by lunging at them with his bolo and knife which prompted police to shoot him down.
Pahugot was rushed to the hospital but failed to make it.
Domingo said the suspect was a known drug user in the area and was arrested last Sept. 12 for causing a disturbance in the neighborhood.
Domingo said police had to release him every time because no one filed a complaint against him.
Pahugot was admitted to the psychiatric ward of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) and was discharged last Sept. 15 after being prescribed with medications.
Angelica said Pahugot stopped taking the medications.
Angelica said she was shocked about what happened to her son and Quino.
She said Quino was “hard working and ready to sacrifice for her family.”
Quino’s children were taken by her mother while her remains were taken by her family to Mandaue City.