San Juan judge found dead

A trial court judge was found dead with several stab wounds in his house in Quezon City yesterday morning.

Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr., chief of the Homicide Investigation Section of the Quezon City Police District, identified the victim as Judge Philip Labastida of the San Juan Metropolitan Trial Court.

The police have yet to identify and locate the suspects behind the crime. Initial assessment of the crime scene points to a possible robbery case, Pedrozo said.

“The suspects may have entered and left through the back portion of the house,” Pedrozo said in an interview, noting that this was the usual scenario in robbery-homicide cases.

The police official explained that if the suspects just wanted to kill the victim, they would have just barged through the front door or attacked the victim outside his house.

According to Pedrozo, Labastida’s body was found in his room at the UP Bliss in Barangay Balumbato.

The victim’s daughter, who was not living in the house, discovered his body at around 10 a.m. yesterday, Pedrozo said.

Initial examination of the body showed that the judge may have been dead for six hours by the time his remains were found, he said.

Pedrozo said the 58-year-old judge may have been killed at around 4 a.m. yesterday. The victim was reportedly living in the house with his 18-year-son, Pedrozo said. – Reinir Padua