Radiator shop worker held for partner’s murder

MANILA, Philippines — An employee of a radiator shop in Makati was arrested for murder on Saturday afternoon for allegedly bringing his partner to the shop’s barracks and strangling her there.

Jhayan Panay’s arrest in Caloocan City came hours after the body of his partner, Maria Cassandra Alquero, 27, was found in the shop’s barracks by stay-in helper Henry Ruivivar at around 8 a.m.

Ruivivar told police he went to the barracks to wake up Panay for work but found Alquero’s body in the suspect’s bed, a microphone cord wound around her neck. Police said Alquero, said to be a receptionist at a bar, died of strangulation.

Another co-worker told investigators he saw Panay and Alquero enter the barracks on Friday night.

Closed-circuit television footage showed that at around 7:15 a.m. on Saturday, the suspect left the barracks and was seen washing his hands with a water hose before stepping out of the shop.

Makati police chief Col. Edward Cutiyog told The STAR that “this is believed to be a crime of passion. The two also had a misunderstanding.”

He said Panay was caught after a junk shop owner saw him walking along San Miguel street in Sangandaan, Caloocan.

A bladed weapon, believed to have been used on the victim, was found on Panay’s person, police said.

Cutiyog did not say whether the victim’s body had knife wounds.

“We are filing a case of murder against the arrested suspect,” Cutiyog said.