Robbery eyed in Malate slays

Police said robbery could be the motive for the killing of three people last Friday in a cellular phone store in Malate, Manila.

Armed with sketches of the suspects drawn with the help of a witness, police are hunting down three men seen entering the store some time before the murders were discovered.

Investigator Detective Edison Bertoldo said the witness, whose identity is being withheld, is now in police custody.

Bertoldo said the suspects probably planned to rob the store but decided to kill the victims, who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The victims were identified as Bobby Sy, 36, owner of Up-To-Date cellular phone store located at the corner of Vasquez and Pedro Gil streets; Rosemarie de la Cruz, 33, and Ronnie Figueroa, 36, both employees of Tetra Copy and Business Center, which shares office space with Up To Date.

Their bodies were found piled on top of each other in the store’s cramped toilet. Their hands were handcuffed behind their backs and their faces covered with packing tape.

All were shot in the head. Police found a spent 9-mm shell and a 9-mm slug at the scene.

Some P100,000-worth of cellphone cards and SIM packs and P50,000 in cash were missing from the store, according to Bertoldo.

De la Cruz’s husband, Rolando, reported to police that his wife’s backpack containing a wallet with P1,000, a gold wedding ring, a pair of earrings and wristwatch were missing.

Police suspect that the robbery and the killings happened between 9 a.m., when Sy arrived at the store, and 9:25 a.m. when the bodies were discovered by Cherry Castro, the store’s sales clerk. Sy was driven to the store by his wife before 9 a.m.

Bertoldo said the suspects could have gained entry when Sy went out of the store. The victims were murdered probably because at least one of them knew the suspects, he added.

Bertoldo dismissed earlier speculations of a love triangle in the killings.

Such an angle cropped up after police learned that a certain Ellen had been calling Sy for the past several days – only to find out that she was a sales agent offering her company’s products.