Love angle eyed in bank clerk's slay

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Police District (MPD) Homicide Division is zeroing in on the love life of Edwin Lao, an employee of a bank in Binondo, Manila, who was killed in front of his office Tuesday morning.

Investigators have ruled out robbery as the motive for the killing of Lao, whose valuables were left untouched by the assailants.

“There are certain stories coming up that the victim had many affairs. Some people suspected that maybe the relatives of one of the women with whom the victim had an affair, could be responsible for the crime. The investigators are following this up,” a source in the homicide division said.

PO3 Emelito Lopez in an interview with The STAR neither confirmed nor denied the source’s statement, but said they are still waiting for the victim’s relatives to confirm the theory.

Lao, 37, was gunned down in front of his office along Sto. Cristo street in Binondo, Manila a few minutes before the bank opened for business.

Witnesses said the victim entered the bank at around 8:45 a.m. and went out shortly to get something from inside his Toyota Fortuner when a man approached him from behind and shot him in the neck at pointblank range.

 Lopez admitted that they are having a hard time because nobody saw the faces of the assailants and the plate number of the motorcycle.

A tricycle driver who saw the incident, however, told The STAR that the shooting happened at a time when the place was bustling with people and it was impossible that no one did not notice the incident, since the bank was in the center of a busy commercial street.