Hammered to death in Daanbantayan: Father kills ‘sleeping son’ after argument

Police arrest a 63-year-old man for allegedly hammering his own son to death in Barangay Poblacion, Daanbantayan, Cebu on early Wednesday morning, December 13, 2023. | Photo from Daanbantayan MPS

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A sleeping 22-year-old man from Daanbatayan, northern Cebu died after he was allegedly beaten on the head with a hammer by his own father on early Wednesday morning, December 13, 2023.

The victim was identified as Marck Wen Monteza, 22, a laborer and a resident of MJ Cuenco Street in Barangay Poblacion, Daanbantayan.

Meanwhile, the suspect was identified as his father, 63-year-old Lim Piamonte Monteza, also a laborer.

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Sleeping son was hammered to death

A police report showed that the killing was reported to the authorities at around 7:00 a.m.

Police Senior Master Sergeant Alfredo Mandal, investigator at the Daanbantayan Police Station, told CDN Digital in a phone interview that the victim was sleeping inside his room when the deadly attack took place.

According to Mandal, the father and son had a rocky relationship because the latter was allegedly violent and he would always fight against his father.

A day before the attack, the two reportedly argued and the son flicked a shirt that hit his father.

After the argument, the father left the house to cool off.

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Father only wanted to talk but…

On Wednesday dawn, the father found his son sleeping and decided to ask him of his problem of being hotheaded.

So he shook him to wake him up, but the son instead of getting up, shouted at him, asking him what he wanted, and then turned his back on the father to get back to sleep.

This made the father so angry — enough to drive him over the edge.

The father then a grabbed a hammer nearby and beat his son’s head several times until the son was left unconscious.

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Personal grudge

Mandal confirmed that the motive behind the incident was previous personal grudge due to past grudges.

During the interview with police, the suspect also said that he was scared that his son would kill him if he did not do it first.

The father allegedly had a suspicion that his son was using illegal drugs and that was why he would easily get angry.

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Father, who hammered son to death, surrenders

According to Mandal, the incident happened without the suspect’s wife and other kids knowing as they were all asleep.

After killing his son, the man went to the house of his neighbor, who is a policeman, and told the latter about what he did.

The neighbor then called the police and told them that the father would voluntarily surrender.

Upon the arrival of responding officers, the victim was rushed to the Daanbantayan District Hospital. The attending physician, however, declared him dead on arrival.

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Father detained

The responding policemen also arrested the father on the scene and brought him to the Daanbantayan Police Station where he was detained.

They also recovered from him the claw hammer believed to have been used in the crime.

Mandal said that the suspect told police that he felt pity for his son and regretted what he did.

However, he is resigned to facing the consequences of his actions.

Mandal said that they were waiting for the decision of the victim’s family on whether they would be filing charges of parricide against the suspect. 

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