.
LEGAL
STORY
Cain and
Abel
Part One
By Kathy M. Villalon
Our
new legal series dwell on the case of a man who
murdered his own brother. The incident took place in
Lambunao, Iloilo yet the names of the persons were
changed to protect their identities as well as of
their family.
In a family, the differences in personalities of
the children are evident even since birth. Despite
being born from the same parents, some factors like
state of mind and the health of the mother due to the
incidents around her during her state of pregnancy
have been proven to cause such differences.
Take the case of Joel and Francis, sons of Tato
and Anita Santos.
Joel was the eldest. Since birth, he seldom cried.
He grew up making the life of his parents easy.
Francis, on the other hand was an unruly child. He is
a notorious bully in school and he always finds
himself in one trouble after another. He wasn't kind
to his elder brother either.
One day, their parents heard Joel crying while
running towards the house.
"Tatay! Nanay!" he screamed.. His face
and shirt had stains of what seems to be blood.
"What happened?" Tato and Anita who were
frantic rushed to their son's side.
"Francis hit me!" he screamed and showed
them the wound in his head.
It turned out that the boys fought over a game of
"piko." Francis lost and couldn't accept it
so he turned his anger to Joel. In the heat of their
argument, Francis picked a somewhat sharp stone and
hurled it to Joel, hitting his brother's head.
Tato and Anita punished Francis for what he did.
But this doesn't seem to have an effect on the child.
The violent incident was followed by more troubles.
Francis would steal Joel's allowance. His teachers
would also report that he had hurt some kid in school.
He refused to do household chores. He'd rather play
outside with the other kids, watch TV, eat and sleep.
He wasn't doing well in his studies either. This
trend continued until the boys are already teens.
Since their parents had a hard time making ends
meet, they had to let Joel and Francis stop studying.
Joel was 18 that time, while Francis was 16. Francis
didn't seem to have a problem with this. He instead
spent his time doing carpentry jobs. His earnings
went to his vices like women, alcohol and gambling.
Joel, on the other hand, wanted to finish his
studies. After stopping for a year, he again went
back to school with the money he earned as a waiter
during the day.
At their age, it is quite normal to start liking
girls. While Francis' conquests can no longer be
counted, Joel was quite picky. Despite being choosy
however, the time finally came when he found someone
he really liked a lot.
It was at work when he met Gina. He was already
working as a waiter there for more than a year when
Gina started work. Joel found her charming and kind.
He decided she would make a good girlfriend.
It wasn't quite easy getting Gina's attention.
Joel brought her flowers, helped her at work, talked
to her a lot, called her often and other things that
a man does when he is attracted to a woman. Gina
seems oblivious to these.
Gina, on the other hand, liked Joel too. Very much,
in fact. But conservative that she is, she wanted him
to wait for she doesn't want him to think of her as
an easy-to-get kind of girl.
"Gina, I've been courting you for months now,"
Joel said one day over lunch. "When will you
give me your answer? I promise I'll be really good to
you."
It was when Gina gave him her sweetest smile and
said "yes." Joel felt on top of the world
at that time.
The couple started going out more often after that.
After a month of being together, Joel decided that
his family should meet Gina.
One day, Joel brought Gina home to meet his family.
Tato and Anita immediately liked her. And so did
Francis. But Francis had a different kind of "liking"
for his brother's girlfriend.
During dinner, the two brothers couldn't keep
their eyes off Gina. Joel's face was filled with
pride and happiness for having the sweetest girl.
Francis' face had a smile too, albeit an obsessed and
plotting one.
She is so beautiful, Francis said to himself. What
a pity that he is now my brother's girlfriend. But
... on the other hand, they are not yet married . . .
so I think I can still do something about it.
Since then, Francis started to come with the
couple everytime they go out. Joel was quite pleased
with this because it was also a good opportunity for
him and his brother to do things together. Gina
obviously likes Francis too as he tried his best to
be very humorous in all situations.
After all, Francis wanted what his brother has,
for himself.
TO BE CONTINUED
