A 60-year-old farmer from Alcoy town died at around 4:10 p.m. on Friday, July 24, after he was hacked and stabbed by a neighbor. | Photo Courtesy of the Alcoy Police Station
CEBU CITY, Philippines — What started as an argument between two neighbors in Barangay Nug-as in Alcoy town turned bloody after one of them stabbed and hacked the other before he fled.
Claudio Priolo, 60, died from wounds which he sustained on his back.
Police Master Sergeant Johnny Tapales of the Alcoy Police Station said that they are now conducting a hot pursuit operation against Jessie Endaya, 47, who was said to have fled towards the direction of the Nug-as forest, a protected timberland that is considered as the largest remaining national forest reserve in the province of Cebu. Alcoy town is located around 93.4 kilometers south of Cebu City.
Quoting the outcome of their initial investigation, Tapales said that Priolo confronted Endaya at around 4 p.m. on Friday for planting on a field owned by another neighbor, Edgardo Arias.
Tapales said that Priolo was designated as a caretaker of Arias’ land because it was located close to his home.
He said that Arias and Priolo went to see Endaya to confront him on his unauthorized use of Arias’ land. They chanced upon the suspect while he was outside of his home.
When Priolo and Endaya started to argue, Arias told Priolo that they should leave.
“Iyang gi ingnan si Priolo nga mo uli nalang sila isog na kaayo ang kining suspect,” said Tapales.
(Arias told Priolo that they should already leave because the suspect was already very angry.)
Tapales said that as the two men were about to leave, Endaya went after them and hacked and stabbed Priolo with the use of a ‘pinuti’, a Filipino sword that originated in the Visayas for use as an agricultural implement.
Endaya wounded Priolo at the back of his body which caused his immediate death.
Tapales said that Alcoy police continue to survey the Nug-as forest to look for the suspect. / dcb