‘Suicide pact’ survivor charged with homicide in Mandaluyong

Police filed homicide charges yesterday against a businessman who survived a "suicide pact" with his live-in partner in Mandaluyong City last June 26.

Charged before the Mandaluyong City Prosecutor’s Office was Danilo Tolentino, 51, married, of Phase 2 West Drive Subdivision, Barangay Labas, Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Prosecutor Elenita Dimaquila ordered Tolentino committed to the Mandaluyong City detention center.

Mandaluyong police chief Superintendent Ericson Velasquez said Tolentino, who is recuperating from stab wounds in the neck, stomach and chest, is now being guarded at the Mandaluyong City Medical Center.

Velasquez said they are digging deeper into the case amid reports that the victim, Milagros Guerrero, 30, wanted out of a relationship with Tolentino.

"They have been separated for more than a month," Velasquez said of Tolentino and Guerrero.

Police said Tolentino and Guerrero put up a nightclub which went bankrupt. Tolentino made Guerrero manager of the establishment.

When the club closed, Tolentino and Guerrero went their separate ways until they met last June 26 at the Bermuda Hotel and Restaurant located in Barangay Highway Hills.

The bodies of Tolentino and Guerrero were discovered by hotel staff after they failed to respond to an 8 a.m. wake-up call. Both were naked and bloodied.

Chief Superintendent Ernesto Belen, director of the crime laboratory at Camp Crame, said Guerrero sustained stab wounds in the neck and stomach and died of cardiac arrest due to massive loss of blood.

Velasquez said Guerrero also had defensive wounds in both arms.

"There was indication that she tried to fend off an attack," Velasquez told The STAR, adding that Tolentino may have killed the victim for wishing to permanently end their relationship.

Velasquez said they recovered two bladed weapons at the crime scene, including one that was newly purchased by Tolentino at a nearby mall.

Tolentino earlier claimed he and Guerrero decided to end their lives as a result of their failed business venture.

Maid Killed In Caloocan

Police are hot on the trail of robbers who stabbed to death a housemaid in Caloocan City yesterday.

Rubyliza Valdez, 19, helper of a family residing on Cepa street in Sta. Quiteria, Caloocan, was found dead at around 6:45 a.m.

A kitchen knife was still embedded in the back of the victim when her body was discovered at the sala of the house.

She also sustained two knife wounds in the back.

Police said an undetermined amount of cash and jewelry belonging to the family was missing. The victim’s employers were tending to their meat shop in Manila when the incident took place.

Police said that one of the suspects, identified only as a certain Chris, is now the subject of a manhunt.

He was reportedly seen by witnesses as the last person who came out of the house before the body was discovered.

Meanwhile, Ben Opulencia, 41, the husband of a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) employee, was found dead yesterday inside the Aliw Inn in Caloocan City.

Opulencia checked in alone at the hotel at around 8:30 p.m. last Tuesday. He ordered food and drinks and never went out of his room.

At 8:30 a.m. yesterday, roomboy Wilfredo de Guzman called Opulencia on the phone to remind him that he needed to check out.

When nobody answered, the roomboy used a duplicate key and opened Opulencia’s room. He found the man on the bed already dead.

De Guzman immediately called the police.

Northern Police District-Crime Lab Section (NPD-CLS) operatives, led by Superintendent Vladimir Villasenor, found inside the room several empty sachets of Dormicum and six sachets of Valium (5mg), both sedative drugs, a cassette tape recorder, a cellular phone, a wedding ring, a family picture and P2,629 in cash.

Also found on top of Opulencia’s pillow were his SSS ID and his driver’s license.

Police said that based on their initial findings, the case was a suicide since Opulencia recorded a message asking for his family’s forgiveness. – With Pete Laude, Jerry Botial