Broken-hearted father poisons self, 2 kids

With barely a month to go before Father's Day, a broken-hearted father fatally poisoned his two young children in Iloilo province last week. The incident occurred in Estancia town on Wednesday, a Monday report on Negros news site Visayan Daily Star (www.visayandailystar.com) said, citing belated reports. Investigator-on-case PO1 Mario Aquinia said suspect Bobby Duran, 32, allegedly made his son Christian, 1, and daughter Christine, 3, drink pesticide. “He did not tell the doctors and nurses at the hospital what really happened and we only confirmed that he poisoned them when we went to their village," Aquinia said. Christian died Wednesday evening at the Jesus Colmenares District Hospital in the neighboring town of Balasan where the three were brought for treatment. Christine died the next day at the Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City. Aquinia said the elder Duran is now under observation at the WVMC and closely guarded by police. He said police also found a suicide note indicating Duran wanted to end it all after learning his wife wanted to end their marriage, though she promised to support their children. Last Wednesday, Duran took their two children to their farm in Sitio Pinaypayan in Barangay Lumbia, some kilometers from the town proper. He made his children drink the pesticide before drinking the substance himself, and later brought the children home. The children were taken to the hospital still conscious but already feeling ill. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV