Binondo drum murder suspect is Chinese, not Taiwanese–Teco
The suspected mastermind in the Binondo drum murder case is a Chinese national and not Taiwanese as initially believed, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines (Teco) said in a statement on Friday.
Teco, the unofficial embassy of Taiwan, said the still unidentified suspect, whom the police identified only as “Davao,” himself admitted to using a fake Taiwanese passport and was actually Chinese.
Investigators, who arrested Davao at a residential hotel in Pasay City on Thursday, said he is believed to be the mastermind in the killing of another Chinese man, identified only as “Xiangjang,” whose body was later dismembered, stuffed in a blue drum and left at the roadside in Binondo, Manila.
Police Maj. Hazel Asilo, spokesperson for the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said Davao and Xiangjang were drinking together when they started to argue about Xiangjang’s unpaid debt which resulted in the gruesome killing.
“According to the account of our suspect’s accomplice, while they were drinking, the suspect asked the victim to pay the debt the latter owes him. Of course, they fought and the suspect stabbed the victim,”
The suspect’s accomplice, whom probers identified only as “Victor,” a 64-year-old Chinese man who was arrested on Feb. 18 after he was shown in video footage helping transport the drum containing the chopped up body.
Video footage
Davao was seen in the security footage allegedly pushing the drum from his unit to the elevator on the 15th floor of a Pasay condominium early on Sunday, while Victor was also captured on video waiting for a van he had reportedly rented for P2,500 to transport the drum from the Pasay condominium to Manila.
Asilo noted that investigators have yet to determine the amount of the debt, whether other individuals joined the suspect and the victim during their drinking session and whether the suspect owned the unit or was renting it.
Asilo, in a phone interview with the Inquirer on Friday, said: “We have initial information that our suspect is a former [Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo)] worker,” but the police have yet to identify which Pogo.
The NCRPO spokesperson further detailed that the hacksaw and the chopping knife believed to have been used to kill and dismember the victim were turned over by an employee of the condominium unit, who had found it in the building’s garbage facility.
The dismembered body was discovered after two scavengers reported the incident to the authorities, according to the Manila Police District.
The scavengers were allegedly paid by Davao and Victor to dispose of the drum near the Delpan Sports Complex on Sunday night.
