Hearing on custody of slain Iloilo trader’s kids canceled

ILOILO CITY — The scheduled hearing today on the custody case involving five children of a murdered businessman here has been cancelled.

Lawyer Cornelio Panes told The STAR yesterday that the hearing set this afternoon will not push through because the court has yet to rule on the motions filed by lawyer Sigfrid Fortun.

Panes represents the Zayco family, while Fortun is the legal counsel of petitioner Conchita Tan.

The custody case involves the five children aged one to 17 of businessman Francisco Uygongco Tan, 48, who, together with his wife, Cynthia Marie Zayco, 36, and daughter Katherine, 5, was stabbed dead inside the family residence here last Jan. 9.

Tan’s two sons with a Bacolod City woman, Archie, 23, and John Michael, 18, are facing charges for the killings.

Reports said Tan, owner of Crown Agro Industrial Supplies here, had a near-monopoly of the trading and supply of fertilizers, agricultural supplies and equipment on Panay Island.

Tan’s aunt Conchita filed the petition for writ of habeas corpus and sought custody of the five children after Zayco’s brother Michael took the minors to Kabankalan, Negros Occidental, citing threats to their personal safety.

Conchita also filed a separate case for abduction and robbery against Michael, the Zayco matriarch, Rosalinda Garcia-Zayco, and agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group who supposedly helped Michael bring the five children to Kabankalan.

Judge Adriano Savillo of Regional Trial Court Branch 30 here, who is handling the custody case, still has to resolve Fortun’s various motions seeking the suspension of the proceedings, directing the Department of Social Welfare and Development to conduct a child study report, and appointing a guardian ad litem for the five children.

Despite the cancellation of the custody hearing, the case involving Tan’s estate will proceed as scheduled today.

Lawyer Arturo Alinio, legal counsel of Archie Tan, said they will present additional evidence to establish jurisdictional facts as required by the rules of court.

At stake is the slain businessman’s estate, consisting of bank accounts reportedly amounting to P30 million and 11 parcels of land.