Family, friends of slain couple offer P1 million for maid's capture

MANILA, Philippines - The family and friends of Filipino-Canadian film critic Alexis Tioseco and his Slovenian girlfriend, film journalist Nika Bohinc, offered yesterday a P1 million reward for the arrest of the couple’s housemaid and three other suspects in their murder on Sept. 1, 2009.

During a press conference held at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters in Manila, Nathan Tioseco, a cousin of Alexis and a film professor at the University of Asia and the Pacific, said they raised the reward to hasten the arrest of all the suspects, including Criselda Gesman Dayag, 45, who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by a Quezon City court.

Dayag, who was newly hired by the couple, reportedly opened the door for three armed men to come into the couple’s house on Times street in Quezon City. The killers waited for two hours for the couple to arrive, then shot them several times at close range. The gunmen looted the house and escaped using Alexis’ car. Police believe it was an “inside job.”

Nathan said they sought the help of NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula last January due to the snail-paced police investigation.

He urged the public to contact the NBI Death Investigation Division at 526-3747 and 0947-721-1901 if they have any information about the case.