Chung’s ‘friend’ identified

A Metro Manila wide manhunt is underway for the two men last seen in the company of Chung Young Ho, the third secretary of the Korean Embassy whose body was found in a morgue in Marikina City the other day, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said yesterday.

Director Nestorio Gualberto, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said investigators have identified the main suspect in the Chung murder case, who initially lured the Korean diplomat and his friend, Chung Han Young, for a few bottles of alcoholic beverages and a "night of good time" in Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City Thursday night.

"We have established the identities of the suspects, including their last known addresses. The suspects, who includes a good-looking Filipino, is now a subject of a Metro-wide search," he said.

Three guest relations officers (GROs) of the Paradise Videoke Bar, a nightclub located at the corner of Ortigas Avenue Extension and E. Rodriguez in Taytay, Rizal, were invited by the police to shed light on the case.

When shown an artist’s sketch of the main suspect, Gualberto said the three GROs positively identified the man as a regular customer of the nightspot. He was with the two Koreans on the night before Chung was reported missing.

"My men are starting to locate his man and his driver on various nightspots wherein he hangs out. But they are nowhere to be found," he said.

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina also warned the public against the notorious "Ativan Gang," which have claimed several victims lately in Metro Manila. Gualberto revealed that the Ativan Gang uses attractive females in luring their foreign victims for "a good time" before divesting them of jewelry and personal belongings.

The group often victimizes Koreans, Japanese and other foreigners who frequent the posh nightspots in Pasig and Makati cities.

The Ativan Gang is a syndicate known to spike the drinks of their victims with a potent tranquilizer before robbing them of valuables.

No identification papers were found on Chung’s body when barangay tanods found him in Sunnyville Compound, Marikina Heights Subdivision in Marikina City last Friday.

Police investigators said the suspects may have taken the victim’s credit cards after finding out that he had no cash nor jewelry on him.

The autopsy conducted by forensic expert Cristina Freyra of the Eastern Police District Crime laboratory revealed that Chung died of "asphyxia by suffocation."

Freyra said the victim vomited and in the process, the food he ate the night before, clogged his esophagus, airway and nostrils. – Christina Mendez, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Marvin Sy and Pia Lee-Brago