MPD warns vs strangers delivering gifts

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Police District (MPD) is warning the public to beware of strangers knocking at the door and delivering gifts after two robbers who posed as delivery men killed a maid and stabbed her employer’s son in Malate Thursday.

“As much as possible do not open your gates to strangers. Always ask for identification cards of delivery men,” said MPD homicide section head Chief Inspector Erwin Margarejo.

He added that people should never leave their gates unlocked when they go out.

Margarejo said a determined criminal always finds means to perpetrate their evil deeds, “so the public should always be wary against them and never give an opportunity for them to strike.”

The MPD has launched a manhunt against two robbers who entered a three-story house in Malate and stabbed dead Sabina Estabillo, 53, when she put up a fight.

Her employer’s son, 20-year-old Allister Chua, sustained at least nine gashes in both arms trying to fend off the robbers. The suspects spared his life when he passed out.

Margarejo said Chua provided the police with artist’s sketches of the two suspects, who tried to hide the crime by burning the house down. However, the liquefied petroleum gas tanks failed to open, and police recovered a burnt broom near the LPG tanks.

Investigators learned the same house was also burglarized several months ago after Estabillo, Chua’s maid for 30 years, failed to lock the gates when she went out of the house.

Margarejo also lamented that despite a surveillance camera at Chua’s residence, “the Chuas did not put recording tapes on the camera to save on costs. Our investigation would have been easier if there was a recording of the entry of the suspects to identify them.”

The suspects failed to get any valuables from the house in their bid to escape, police said. – Nestor Etolle