Police looking at 3 motives in Tetangco slay

MANILA, Philippines - A newly formed police task force is looking into three possible motives behind the murder of a brother of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor and two of his companions on June 2.

Angeles City police chief, Senior Superintendent Danilo Bautista, a member of the task force, said victims Rene Tetangco, brother of BSP governor Amando Tetangco, and his companions Florencio Yap and Tetangco’s aide Dennis Guinto could have been robbed and then killed.

Tetangco, Yap and Guinto were found dead inside a Ford Expedition sports utility vehicle parked at a vacant lot in Barangay Pampang, Angeles City.

Bautista said it is also possible that the three men were killed over an old grudge or possibly even over business.

According to Bautista, Tetangco had used to operate cockfights in Apalit, Pampanga while Yap owns a hardware in San Fernando, Pampanga, owns a large poultry and is also involved in the selling of animal feeds.

However, of the three motives, robbery, Bautista said, is the weakest.

Bautista said, although the victims were missing their cellular phones, it is puzzling why the robbers would have to stash Yap, who appears to be the driver of the Ford Expedition, at the rear compartment of the sports utility vehicle.

“His (Yap’s) slippers were at the floor of the driver’s seat when the vehicle was found. It seems that the victims were killed elsewhere and the killers drove and moved the Expedition,” he said.

Bautista said that although witnesses have yet to surface, the task force has already began questioning known acquaintances of the victims, including workers of the King’s Poker and Sports Club which is located along Fields Avenue in Angeles.

Bautista earlier said the victims never made it last Thursday night to the King’s Poker and Sports Club although they were there on the evening of June 1 up to the wee hours of the next morning.

He said the management of King’s Poker and Sports Club told probers that Tetangco and his companions arrived at their establishment at about 9 p.m. on June 1 (Tuesday) and played poker up to 4:45 a.m. the following day.

Police said that at 6 p.m., Tetangco called up his wife to inform her that he was going to King’s Club to play poker. On the way, he reportedly picked up Yap and Guinto, who were playing bingo at Robinson’s mall in San Fernando.

Bautista said the sports club management told probers that Tetangco called them up at about 7 p.m. Thursday to make reservations for food as he and his companions planned to play poker that night. The victims, however, never showed up at the sports club.

Police said that three hours later at about 10 p.m., employees of Bavarian Lions Restaurant along Fields Avenue in Barangay Pampanga noticed a Ford Fortuner vehicle parked under an acacia tree on a nearby vacant lot and theorized that the occupants were on a date.

At about 8 a.m. the following day, however, restaurant security guard Joseph Maderaso saw the three victims with bullet wounds in the vehicle. The victims had multiple gunshot wounds in their heads and chest. Police said the killers used M16 rifles and that the victims were shot at close range.       – With Ric Sapnu