Police: Tetangco brother's killers left palm prints

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – Police laboratory findings have yielded enough palm prints apparently belonging to a suspect in the June 2 murder here of three men, including a brother of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Amando Tetangco, but probers have yet to identify him amid lack of any direct witness.

Senior Superintendent Wendy Rosario, head of the Tetangco-Yap Task Force, said the palm prints were found in various parts of the sport utility vehicle (SUV) where the bodies of Tetangco’s brother, his friend Florencio Yap and the latter’s aide Dennis Guinto were found in a vacant lot in Barangay Pampanga here.

Rosario also said tissues gathered by forensic investigators on the SUV’s ceiling apparently belonged to Yap “as a result of the bullet entering and exiting from his temporal lobe.”

This, he said, could indicate that Yap was on the driver’s seat when he was shot. The victims’ bodies were riddled with M-16 bullets.

The SUV was first spotted in the vacant lot at around 9 p.m. on June 2. Earlier at 7:30 p.m. that day, the victims had called up King’s Poker and Sports Club to make dinner reservations.

When found, Yap’s body was at the backseat, Tetangco’s at the front passenger’s seat, and Guinto’s in the back compartment.

So far, Rosario said none of the testimonies that police have gathered revealed any direct witness to the murders.

“We hope that a direct witness will surface now that we have increased the reward from P200,000 to P400,000,” he said.

“We hope this will entice walk-in witnesses who can provide us finally with information that can identify the suspect or suspects,” he said.

Rosario said nearly all of 11 indirect witnesses have given their testimonies to the police, including an employee of King’s Poker and Sports Club who talked to Yap about the dinner reservations.

Rosario said outgoing Mayor Romeo “Buddy” Dungca and former provincial board member Dinan Labung were among those whose statements were taken by investigators. The victims were slated to play poker with them at King’s on the night they were killed.

Rosario said Yap was a close friend of Jomar Hizon who defeated Labung and Dungca’s son in the mayoral race in Bacolor last May 10.

“None of our witnesses directly witnessed the crime, so we hope that the reward will attract walk-in witnesses who did,” he said.

Rosario said the task force would also rely on the available forensic evidence, including at least five palm prints gathered from Yap’s van and tissues apparently left behind by the suspect or suspects.

“Once we have the suspects, these forensic evidence will be matched against them,” he said.

The task force has downplayed robbery as possible motive although the victims’ wallets, cell phones and other personal items were missing.