EPD probes link between attacks on missionary, Luli Arroyo's brod-in-law

MANILA, Philippines - The Eastern Police District (EPD) is establishing whether the rob-slay of a South Korean missionary in Pasig City last Sunday was a handiwork of the “Bundol (bump)” gang, tagged in the attack on a brother-in-law of former presidential daughter Luli Arroyo-Bernas.

EPD director Chief Superintendent Francisco Manalo said the victim, Choe Tae Hwan, and his seven other companions came from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), just like businessman George Bernas.

In separate attacks, Bernas and an American national had just arrived from abroad when the gang rear-ended their respective vehicles to make them stop, then robbed them.

“There is a slight deviation in the case of the South Korean national because instead of bumping their vehicle from behind, the suspects blocked their path, apparently to misled police investigators,” Manalo said in an interview.

“We are still establishing whether the ‘Bundol’ gang is also behind this latest heist.”

Bernas’ brother is the husband of Luli Arroyo, a daughter of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Choe fetched his fellow missionaries – Kim Jeong Suk, Cho Eun Hye, Han Jin Suk, Choi Ho Young, Kim Da Ean, Kim Hyou Sik and Kim Young Cun – who arrived at 10:10 p.m. Sunday at the NAIA.

The South Koreans were on their way to Choe’s house in Cainta on board a blue Chevrolet van (XEV-328), when the suspects blocked their path along Ortigas Avenue Extension in Barangay San Lucia right after the Gotesco Mall around 12:35 a.m.

Witnesses said two of the suspects alighted and at gunpoint dragged Kim Young Cun (female) and Kim Hyou Sik (male) to the suspects’ vehicle.

Manalo said Choe tried to put up a fight but one of the suspects shot at him, hitting him thrice. The suspects fled toward Cainta with the two Kims, whom they later dumped along an abandoned street.

Crime scene investigators retrieved five shells and a bullet at the crime scene.

Manalo said the South Koreans described the suspect’s vehicle as a white van but could neither establish its make nor jot down its plate number.

The EPD director said Pasig City police, under Senior Superintendent Jessie Cardona, are conducting a background investigation on Choe to determine the motive of the robbery-homicide.