Money woes, affair eyed in cop's murder

MANILA, Philippines - Investigators are looking into financial woes or a possible relationship dispute in the killing of a police major on Monday night, Quezon City Police District director Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego said yesterday.

In an interview, the QCPD director also revealed that Chief Inspector Michael Coo had received threats prior to the killing that happened at a restaurant in Fairview. “About two or three weeks ago, he (Coo) received threats through text messages and phone calls at the police station. Coo — who was shot dead by an armed assailant accompanied by a driver of a motorcycle used as getaway vehicle — was deputy commander of the QCPD-Station2 (Masambong). On the night of his death, Coo was supposed to be meeting with an unidentified person at a restaurant in Barangay North Fairview. However, Coo’s cellular phone, which supposedly contained text messages including those from the one he was supposed to meet that night, is now missing and believed to have been taken by the suspects.

According to San Diego, they were looking into the possibility that the killing was related to the slain police official’s business interests. Coo was reportedly engaged in a surplus and money-lending business.

A girlfriend of Coo had also said that the police official had incurred debts in gambling, but noted that all of these had already been paid. Another girlfriend, who is also Coo’s business partner, also named in her statement to the police three persons from the camp of her former husband, who she said should be investigated. The same business partner had also placed on record an incident on the night of Dec. 27, during which a sports utility vehicle she was driving was blocked by men on a pickup truck. The SUV was said to be owned by the woman but was reportedly also used by Coo on a number of occasions in the past.

Based on a blotter entry at the QCPD-Station 4, the woman was driving the SUV in Barangay Gulod in Novaliches when her lane was cut by a Mitsubishi pickup truck (UTR934). When she blew her horns to get the attention of the one driving the truck, those on board the other vehicle got off and one of them showed to the woman the gun tucked in his waist before the group eventually sped off.

There was also an unclear account in the statement of one of the women about what appeared to be a threat from a group involved in illegal drugs but officials were doubting the veracity of their information.