The bodies of the victims, Jason Lansiun, 42 and his wife, Blandrina Sandiego, 45, were discovered Tuesday in their shack-like home in the Penampang district of Sabah, a police official said.
He said the assailant appeared to have entered through the back door and hacked Lansiun 10 times and Sandiego at least four times. The weapon was left behind in the house.
The motive remained unclear, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.
The Star newspaper reported that Lansiun and his wife were subcontractors building a house, and recently had a misunderstanding over money matters with their workers. Police were trying to locate a former worker to assist in the investigation.
The Star quoted Police Chief Mohamad Azhar as saying that the motive remained unclear, but that revenge was suspected.
The bodies were found by Rasalia Jaikol, the woman whose home they were building, the report said. Rasalia had gone to their shack to find out why work on her home had stopped and saw bloodstains near the door.
Authorities estimate some 800,000 Filipino migrants live and work in Sabah, Malaysia’s eastern state on Borneo island. About 100,000 of them were estimated to be illegal immigrants, often blamed for crime and other social troubles.