• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The year 2024 was met with violent incidents in Negros Occidental as three persons died while seven others were injured in series of stabbing incidents on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, police reports showed.
The fatalities were two laborers and a farmer, with the three suspects still at-large.
Based on initial police investigation, the 46-year-old farmer, whose identity has been withheld by the police, was stabbed in the abdomen by the suspect, who was under the influence of liquor, inside his residence in Barangay Damutan, Hinobaan on Dec. 31.
The victim was declared dead at the Candoni Rural Health Unit while the assailant fled.
Also on Dec. 31, the body of a 25-year-old laborer, who was not named by the police, was found at Purok Sunrise Village in Barangay Blumentritt, Murcia.
On the same day, a 41-year-old laborer was also declared dead at the Cadiz Emergency Clinic after he was stabbed by the suspect as a result of misunderstanding in Hacienda Crisjun, Barangay Jerusalem, Cadiz City.
Before the incident, the victim and the suspect, who also fled, were both under the influence of liquor, according to the police report.
Seven other victims of stabbing incidents in San Carlos City, San Enrique, Pulupandan, La Castellana and Don Salvador Benedicto survived the attempt on their lives.
One of the suspects, a 90-year-old widow, stabbed a 23-year-old person with a spear in Barangay Ermita, Sipaway Island, San Carlos City on Dec. 31. | GB
