August 17, 2002
Wife on rampage kills her hubby
FED up with her husband's violent tendencies, a 62-year-old housewife in Carcar, Cebu pierced his eyes with a pair of scissors last Wednesday, cut off his penis and killed him in the process.
Believing that a man's soul will come to haunt the living if a part of his body is separated from him, the woman stuffed her husband's severed penis into his mouth so he could bring it with him to the grave.
The incident in Barangay Guadalupe, Carcar at 4 p.m. last Wednesday was a gruesome ending to 45 years of marriage between suspect Eutiquia Alcover, 62 and his husband Aurelio, 64, a union the woman herself described as "chaotic."
Eutiquia said she could no longer stand the abuse she had been getting from her husband, so she decided to put an end to it.
The two married in 1957 and separated in 1980 after having nine children. Last February, or after 22 years of separation, they reunited to give marriage another try.
Last Wednesday, they had a fight over Eutiquia's clumsy way of serving him coffee. At the height of the fight, Aurelio got hold of a butcher's knife. Defending herself, Eutiquia struck her husband's legs with a coconut palm. The old man fell down, unable to stand up.
Now defenseless, the husband could only submit to what her wife was to do next. While the man was dying, she cut off his penis, saying it was that part of him which brought trouble to their marriage.
"Nikalit lang to sa akong huna-huna nga akong putlon kay mao man toy hinungdan nga way kalinaw among pagpuyo. Akong gipa-om-om kay mawala unya ang putol, magbalik-balik ra ba kuno ang kalag kung naay mahabilin," Eutiquia said. (It just crossed my mind that I had to cut his penis off, as it was the one that caused us trouble. I stuffed the severed part into his mouth because a man's soul is said to wander if a part of him is lost.)
She said that aside from having several mistresses, her husband was also very violent, a gambler and a drunkard.
Despite the pain, Aurelio managed to ask for his wife's forgiveness. Having said sorry, he died.
"He asked forgiveness for marrying another woman. I told him it's too late. I wouldn't have minded his womanizing but it was the way he treated me that got to me," she said in Cebuano.
Eutiquia was charged with parricide Friday after her daughter executed an affidavit narrating the incident.
Eutiquia said she is willing to face whatever punishment awaits her.
"I committed a crime, I will face the consequences. That's the law," she said.
Eutiquia narrated that in the morning of Aug. 14, her husband got mad at her for serving him homemade coffee with an ember still clinging to the cloth she used as potholder.
"That started it. He started shouting. He left only to return after an hour drunk with coconut wine. Then he resumed yelling at me," Eutiquia said.
Aurelio continued to nag after lunch, even brandishing a butcher's knife. Fearing for her life, Eutiquia went out of the house. But Aurelio followed her. It was then that she decided to fight back.
"I didn't bother taking him to the hospital (after the fight) since he couldn't make it there alive anyway," the wife said.
The couple's house is three kilometers away from the town proper while the nearest neighbor is about a kilometer away.
Carcar is 40 kilometers south of Cebu City.
After the incident, she told her 12-year-old granddaughter to go to their town councilor and ask him to get a policeman.
When the police arrived, Eutiquia was inside the house waiting.
"I was prepared to go with the police. I don't have any intentions of escaping. It will only make my life difficult," she said.
She is now detained in Carcar Police Station while her husband's remains is in Barangay Bolinawan, where he was born and raised. MBG
