IN A fit of jealous rage, a 27-year-old man murdered his wife, then burned down their house in Barangay Liburon, Carcar City, Cebu on Sunday morning, Jan. 26, 2020.
The couple’s two-month-old baby was rescued by their neighbors.
Romnick Melecio, who displayed an erratic behavior following his arrest, told police that he had stabbed his wife Dailyn, 24, to death before he burned down their house.
Melecio, a native of Bohol, was reportedly mad at Dailyn after he learned that she was having an affair with a foreigner, Liburon Barangay Captain Lucio Lastima told Superbalita Cebu.
However, Lastima heard from his neighbors that Melecio knew all along about Dailyn’s extra-marital affair, and Melecio tolerated it as they benefited from the benevolence of the foreigner, who also lives in Liburon.
The Melecios arrived in Liburon after they had bought a property in the village. They engaged in selling motorcycle parts.
Police investigators would still have to verify the information gathered by Lastima, who was also baffled by the situation, saying: If Melecio had tolerated his wife’s affair with the foreigner, what drove him to kill her?
On Saturday night, Jan. 25, Lastima said, the neighbors heard the couple in a heated argument. That could have been time that Melecio stabbed his wife to death.
Dailyn’s family comes from Negros Oriental.
After his arrest, Melecio’s actions were unstable as he could be under the influence of an illegal substance, but he was still able to talk, said P/Cpl. Alge Noel Espinosa of the Carcar City Police Station.
Espinosa said Melecio admitted he was the one who killed his wife and set their house on fire.
When some neighbors noticed the fire, they saw Melecio leaving the house. They shouted at him that his house was on fire, but he ignored them, said Lastima.
The Carcar City Fire Station received the fire alarm at 11:16 a.m. Sunday.
Firefighters put out the flames in 25 minutes.
No other structure in the area was damaged by the blaze. The damage to property was pegged at P75,000.
Melecio will face arson and parricide complaints before the Carcar City Prosecutor’s Office on Monday, Jan. 27.
Cebu City fires
Also on Sunday, Jan. 26, two separate fires hit Cebu City, and one of which was caused by arson.
Past 3 p.m., a fire razed 25 houses and killed a certain Leo in Sitio Panagdait, Barangay Kasambagan.
The fire reportedly started in the house of Guillermo Canabe Sr., whose son Guillermo Jr. was arrested after he was allegedly seen setting their residence on fire.
Guillermo Jr. will be charged with arson before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.
The damage to property was around half a million. The fire was put out at 4:40 p.m.
Near the Rama Compound in Barangay Basak San Nicolas, a warehouse caught fire around 1:39 a.m. It took the firefighters 31 minutes to put out the flames, and FO2 Fulbert Navarro estimated the damage at P200,000. (BBT, RRM / KAL)