The gruesome crime has sent shockwaves across Negros Island and added fuel to the online debate about the war on drugs.
It is not known whether the suspect, Roger Barrera Manaban, aged 52, was on drugs or had simply lost his mind.
The murder occurred early on Monday (August 28) morning, when Manaban stabbed his widowed mother Josefina Barrera Manaban 14 times with an improvised foot-long knife.
He is then accused of gouging out one of her eyes, before cutting open her stomach and eating parts of her intestines raw.
When neighbours investigated the commotion, they found Manaban covered in blood. They then foiled an attempt by him to take a two-year-old child as a hostage.
A ‘parricide’ case has been filed against the suspect, who is due to be tested for illegal drugs.
Senior Inspector Nelson Bindaño Lamoco, chief of police of Sibulan town in Negros Oriental, said the suspect left his Negros home years ago and had returned to the province only recently.
According to relatives, he lived a “nomad’s life” after his return from Davao, where he has a wife and children.
They also say that he underwent treatment in a mental institution last year.
Crazed son drenched in blood
Snr. Insp. Lamoco said: “We received an alarm call in our station at about 7am. We went to the place of concern where we learned that the crime had been committed possibly at about 6am.
“We immediately collared the suspect, who was drenched in blood at that time.”
Upon checking Josefina’s house, he added that they found a woman’s lifeless body. Her clothes were removed, innards splattered on the floor and an eye gouged out.
An on-the-spot confession by the suspect revealed he had attempted to rape his own mother, then killed her by stabbing and slicing her body and face.
Snr. Insp. Lamoco said: “He seemed to have been possessed by a demon. He was hallucinating when he talked. His statements were inconsistent. His eyes were bloody red, and he was acting as if he was perpetually chewing something.
“In order to find out whether he was a drug user, we will subject him to a drug test. It is also possible that he had lost his mind.”
Police said Josefina was laid to rest at the town’s public cemetery yesterday.
Manaban remains in police custody and investigations are continuing.