3 rehab patients die in hacking

CEBU, Philippines — Hoping to treat their drug dependence, four men agreed to live in an apartment on Providence Street, Sitio Uldog, Barangay Cansojong, Talisay City and imposed rules upon themselves they believed would help them veer away from the vice.

Their noble goal, however, ended instead in violence following a misunderstanding on the house rules.

Of the four, only Lendon Carpeso, 24, survived. His fellow recovering drug dependents Thomas Woodruff, 24, and Ervyn Ian Enilo, 38, were believed to have been hacked to death by their fourth housemate Archie Abastillas, 38, who later killed himself by slitting his wrist.

Carpeso told the police that he woke up in the middle of the night feeling being splashed with some liquid that turned out to be his own blood after being attacked by Abastillas who was armed with a 12-inch butcher knife.

Though he suffered hack wounds to his head and other parts of the body, Carpeso managed to storm out of the house with Woodruff.

When Talisay City policemen arrived in the area, the sight of Carpeso and Woodruff smeared with blood greeted them near the entry to the house. The two were rushed to the hospital but Woodruff expired along the way.

In the living room, police discovered Enilo and Abastillas sprawling lifeless on the floor, both bathed in their own blood. Enilo was riddled with several hack wounds while Abastillas had a cut on his left wrist.

Carpeso, who survived to tell the horrific incident, said Abastillas and Enilo were engaged in a heated argument Wednesday evening regarding the rules and regulations of their self-after care program.

That time, though, they were immediately pacified.

“Nag-undergo daw sila ng self-after care program. May sarili silang rules and regulations. Ito daw si Abastillas ay nagalit kay Enilo dahil sa curfew na hindi nasunod,” said Supt. Marlu Conag, Talisay City police chief.

According to Carpeso, Abastillas had been suffering from anxiety and failed to take his medicine that night.

The gruesome killings then occurred shortly after midnight.

Conag said they are still conducting a deeper investigation to check whether such kind of self-treatment for drug dependence is advised.

Reached for comment, the head of the city’s after-care program, Dr. Rey Cesar Bautista, clarified that the apartment where the hacking incident happened was not a licensed community-based treatment (CBT) facility.

He discouraged people from treating chemical dependence on their own, saying the treatment must be done only with the guidance or prescription of a medical practitioner.

Moreover, Bautista emphasized that CBTs are only done on an outpatient basis through the city's health center. If a drug surrenderer is diagnosed with high dependence, the center recommends for the individual to enroll in an inpatient rehab program.

However, Bautista said the decision to enroll and which center or facility to choose rest on the patient’s family.

Bautista said individuals or groups initiating self-treatment will be reprimanded by his office. However, identifying these houses remains a challenge because the office cannot oversee and monitor them unless reported.

Carmen Ivy Remedios Meca, head of the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office, separately clarified that the house in Talisay where the crime took place does not fall under the responsibility of her office.

“No. That was not a community-based treatment program, the one in Talisay. That was a residential rehab program,” she said.

Meca made it clear that CPADAO does not offer rehabilitation programs.

She said CPADAO’s role is to help implement the CBT framework made by the Department of Health (DOH) and organize the training on the Matrix Intensive Outpatient Program (MIOP).

“The hacking that happened cannot be attributed to the ineffectiveness of a rehab program. First, we need to know the severity of the hacker’s drug problem. That’s why an MSE and DDE performed by an accredited person are important,” she said.

“Remember, rehab is treatment which comes in different ways like detoxification, outpatient, and residential. Criteria need to be checked so that appropriate treatment can be implemented. In this hacking case, we need to know the history, assessment, and recommended treatment which a facility must check,” Meca continued. - Lorraine Mitzi A. Ambrad, Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon

 (FREEMAN)