Tadao slay suspect falls

The principal suspect in the slaying of world-renowned jazz instrumentalist Tadao Hayashi was arrested Wednesday afternoon by elements of the Caloocan City police.

Alex Ilagan, 23, a native of Bungabon, Oriental Mindoro, with no permanent address in Metro Manila, was presented yesterday to the media by Northern Police District (NPD) director Senior Superintendent Vidal Querol and Caloocan City police chief and Task Force Tadao commander Superintendent Benjardi Mantele.

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Joey Lina commended the police for solving the case in 48 hours.

Mantele said Ilagan was arrested at around 3 p.m. in a squatter’s area in Floodway, Pasig City. Police zeroed in on Ilagan after he was identified by Hayashi’s neighbor, Reynaldo Ortillano, who earlier told police that he saw a man arrive at Hayashi’s bungalow located at Block 1, Lot 2, LD Village, Barangay Tala, Caloocan, at around 6:30 p.m. last Sunday.

Ilagan, who is now detained at the Caloocan police Station Intelligence and Investigation Division (SIID) detention cell, vehemently denied killing Hayashi.

"I cannot kill him. He was very kind to me," Ilagan told reporters in Filipino. He added that there could be a "deeper motive’ behind Hayashi’s killing but declined to elaborate.

Ilagan said he was introduced to the harpist by a mutual friend whom he identified as a certain Jun Segovia in 1987. The suspect also admitted that he and Hayashi had a brief sexual relationship but remained friends after their liaison ended. Ilagan said he was also Hayashi’s masseur.

He added that Hayashi had helped him and his estranged wife, Rosemarie, financially. The harpist was also godfather to Ilagan’s seven-year-old daughter. Ilagan also said that he had not had any contact with Hayashi for the last couple of years.

While Ilagan admitted he took shabu, an illegal drug, for sometime, he said Hayashi was clean.

"He never took drugs. He did not even drink. His only vice was cigarettes."

Ilagan said he knew that he was a principal suspect after learning that police were considering "a close friend" of Hayashi as the possible killer. "Only Mang Tony and I are Tadao’s closest friends here (in Manila)," Ilagan said, adding that he even prepared for the arrest.

Antonio "Mang Tony" Clet, 47, Hayashi’s personal assistant who used to work as production assistant for SRO Philippines (a local talent management firm which handled the victim) became a trusted friend of the harpist in 1988 when they first met.

Clet told The STAR Ilagan had been out of Hayashi’s life for a long while and could have renewed acquaintance with the harpist after Tadao made a comeback in the local music circuit.

Clet, the other day, denied having seen the suspect over the weekend but admitted he knew the man police identified as "Alex".

Reporters, however, noted the striking difference between Ilagan and an artist’s sketch of the suspect as described by Ortillano. The artist’s sketch earlier presented to the media showed a clean cut man described to be fair-complexioned, of medium built, 5’3"-5’4" tall, and between 19-23 years old. Ilagan had a stubble of beard, is well-built, and is around 5’10" tall.

Caloocan SIID chief Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo explained that "a beard could grow in three days" and that the police are "convinced" that they had caught the right suspect.

Probers said one of the more telling physical evidence he saw were the cuts and scratches on the suspect’s right knuckles, arms and chest, leading them to believe that the victim had put up a fight but was overpowered by the muscular suspect. But Ilagan said he got these injuries while doing some carpentry work at his uncle’s house in Las Piñas over the weekend.

Inspector Marcelo Mariano who led the five-man team that arrested Ilagan in Pasig, told The STAR he also noticed that the suspect all the while crossed his arms over his chest as he talked to him. Mariano said this was Ilagan’s way of attempting to keep the cuts on his hand from being noticed by the police. – Nikko Dizon and Jerry Botial