In the small, close-knit barangay of Bacao in Iloilo City, Nancy and Gino Veloso were a typical struggling family. Gino, a 33-year-old jeepney driver, worked tirelessly to make ends meet, while Nancy, 30, managed their home and cared for their children.

Their seven-year marriage was strained by the constant pressure of financial hardship, a situation that became dire when their child was hospitalized with dengue.

Desperate for cash to cover the mounting bills, Gino suggested they take a loan from a local moneylender named Hazel Romero. It was a decision born from necessity, but it would set in motion a devastating chain of events involving a secret affair, a painful betrayal, and a final, violent confrontation in a motel room.

The loan was small—just P15,000—enough to give the family a few weeks of breathing room. But shortly after, Nancy began to notice subtle but unsettling changes in her husband. Gino, who usually came home exhausted and grimy from a long day on the road, was suddenly well-groomed, wearing new clothes, and smelling of a perfume she didn’t recognize.

He started coming home late, blaming overtime, and became intensely secretive with his new cellphone, often texting late into the night.

Nancy’s suspicion grew with each passing day. A small calling card for “HR Lending Services” found in his pocket, with the handwritten note “Thanks for yesterday” on the back, fueled her fears. Her gut told her the “HR” stood for Hazel Romero. With the help of a neighbor, she began to piece together the truth.

She learned that Hazel had a reputation not just for her lending business, but for her affairs with married men. The final, heartbreaking proof came when Nancy discovered a receipt from a local motel in Gino’s pants pocket, dated for an afternoon when he had claimed to be working.

Consumed by a mixture of grief and rage, Nancy knew she needed to see the betrayal with her own eyes. On a Saturday morning in October 2017, she and her neighbor followed Gino after he left for a supposed special trip to Oton. They watched as he drove not to another town, but to a motel in Mandurriao. Minutes later, Hazel Romero arrived, impeccably dressed, and joined him inside.

For a long, painful moment, Nancy sat in stunned silence, the full weight of her husband’s deceit crashing down on her. Then, her grief turned to a white-hot fury. She stormed into the motel, got the room number from the front desk, and confronted the two of them.

The scene that followed was explosive. When Hazel taunted her, saying Gino was tired of her, Nancy, in a fit of desperate rage, grabbed a ballpen from a nearby table and attacked her husband’s mistress.

The chaotic and violent encounter ended with Hazel being rushed to the hospital with serious injuries, and both Nancy and Gino being taken into police custody. The story of the love triangle and the bloody motel confrontation became a local sensation.

In the legal aftermath, the full story of deceit was laid bare. Gino confessed to the affair, explaining how the initial loan had led to a relationship with Hazel. In the end, the court, recognizing the extreme emotional distress and provocation that had led to Nancy’s actions, showed a degree of leniency.

She was found guilty of frustrated homicide but was given a lighter sentence of probation and counseling instead of prison time. For their affair, both Gino and Hazel were sentenced to six months to one year in prison for concubinage.

But for Nancy, the legal victory was a hollow one. The betrayal had irrevocably broken her family. She left her husband and, with her son, moved to Guimaras to start a new life. Her story is a powerful and tragic testament to the devastating consequences of infidelity, and of a woman who, when pushed to her absolute limit, fought back with the only thing she had left.