Angeles expats fear for their safety

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – Foreigners residing here have expressed “serious concern” over their safety following Thursday’s killing of an American expatriate, his wife and three house helpers in their rented house in a subdivision.

The expatriates plan to put up a reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers, as they bewailed the recent resurgence of attacks on their fellow foreigners.

This developed as police have identified a suspect in the killing of former US Air Force M/Sgt. Albert Mitchell, 70; his wife Janet, 53; and their house helpers Yulberto Vergarda, Isabel Fajardo and Marissa Prado.

Police have also established that the caliber 9-mm pistol, apparently with a silencer, used in the crime was the same one used in the killing of a Canadian national and a Briton and his live-in partner, based on spent shells found in the Mitchell residence.

Larry Heilhecker, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Post 2485 based in this city, told The STAR that Mitchell used to head their group.

Heilhecker said Mitchell had resided in this city for the past 25 years. Before he retired, Mitchell was stationed at the former US Air Force base in Clark, which was transformed into a freeport after the US military abandoned it in 1991.

He said expatriates here plan to raise funds for a reward for the solution of the killing, but did not say how much it would be.

He said he and his fellow expatriates want to make sure though that there would be no “fall guys” in the case.

Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan said an identified suspect eluded arrest during a raid on his house in Marisol Subdivision Thursday night.

“I condemn the killings and I hope they were not perpetrated by a serial killer,” he said in a statement, after probers noted that a caliber 9-mm pistol was similarly used in the recent murders of other foreigners here.

Bautista said neighbors found the bodies of Mitchell, his wife and their house helpers in different parts of their house in Hensonville Court Subdivision in Barangay Malabanias.

The subdivision is a well-secured area where many expatriates reside.

Only last July 6, South African Geoffrey Allan Benun, 60, and his Filipina live-in partner Abigail Henina were found dead with gunshot wounds in their house at the Oasis residential complex, another subdivision catering mostly to expatriates, in Barangay Anunas.

Since last month, a Korean and a British national and the latter’s wife have also been killed in this city’s tourist district. All the cases remain unsolved. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe and Ric Sapnu