2 sisters tagged as Tan slay brains

Police tagged yesterday the business associate of murdered Chinese-Filipino businessman Evan Tan, and her sister as the brains behind the abduction and killing of the young trader whose body was dumped last week along a highway in Bulacan.

The suspects, Mary Ann Medina, Tan’s business associate for two years, and her sister Maria Lourdes Medina-Olayres, both in their early 30s, were presented to media yesterday by Metro police chief Director Ricardo de Leon, Northern Police District director Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr. and Caloocan Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo in a press conference at the Caloocan City police station.

The sisters were presented along with two other suspects, Noel Papong, 38, who was arrested in an entrapment operation Thursday afternoon inside a mall in Malinta, Valenzuela City and Rodolfo Norombaba, 44, nabbed Thursday night at the group’s lair in Barangay Ugong also in Valenzuela City.

Olayres, the younger sister of the siblings, was apprehended at her residence in Barangay Karuhatan also on Thursday.

Papong, who was earlier tagged by the police as the group’s leader, claimed Medina hired his group to abduct Tan and promised them P50,000 as payment.

He said that it was not part of their plan to kill Tan as they were only instructed by Medina to threaten the victim in order to force him to settle a loan.

Papong, who claimed to be the group’s driver during their operation, claimed it was Medina herself who shot the victim inside their vehicle while they were on a highway in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

Norombaba, for his part, also pointed to Medina as the triggerman.

Medina denied killing Tan. She pointed to Norombaba as the one who shot Tan in the head.

Franco said police are still trying to determine real motive behind Tan’s killing, saying extortion could be the most probable.

He added that they are now trying to locate Michael Uy, the live-in partner of Medina to shed light on the case.

The police were able to crack the Tan’s case after they find out that the last cell phone number contacted by the victim when he left home on the night of Jan. 9 was that of Medina.

Tan was found dead on a grassy lot near a highway in Norzagaray, Bulacan the following day with two gunshot wounds in the head.

During interrogation, Medina admitted participation to Tan’s abduction. This led to the early identification and arrest of the suspects. — With Jerry Botial