Police monitors activities of three local men for possible involvement in murder of Japanese in Ilocos Norte

By Ronron
May 10, 2005

Laoag City, Ilocos Norte - The local police of Solsona town in Ilocos Norte is monitoring the movements of three local men who were among the six they invited earlier for questioning for possible involvement in the murder last weekend of a Japanese national there.

Solsona Chief of Police Chief Inspector Joven Aldos told Manila Shimbun in an interview Tuesday that the three were being monitored because of their claim that they left for another place on Friday night after having a drinking session with two other companions.

The three, however, are still not being considered suspects in the murder of Shinya Takemoto, 59, who was discovered by his wife dead already before dawn of May 7. Takemoto was found with multiple hacked and incise wounds inside his bedroom at their residence in Sitio Cabaruan, Barangay Mariquet, Solsona, Ilocos Norte.

“They were just being invited for questioning on the basis that the timing of their departure from the barangay is quite suspicious since it was on the same day that the incident happened,” Aldos said of the six jobless locals.

Aldos finished questioning the six, aged 22 – 24, last Monday.

According to him, five of the six men had a drinking session at the residence of one of the five in Barangay Mariquet from the afternoon until late evening of May 6, Friday.

When they called off at 11 pm, the three who are now being monitored left for another place, but still in the same village, where they decided to sleep. One of the three resides in that place where they slept, together with his mother.

Then, in the afternoon of the following day, May 7, the five, and another colleague, left for this city, located some 37 kilometers westward, to apply for work. (Aldos yesterday corrected the information he shared with Manila Shimbun during Monday’s interview. He earlier said the six immediately left for Laoag City on Friday afternoon after five of the six had a drinking session.)

Aldos said the six men boarded a Manila-bound bus at around 5:30 pm of Saturday.

Quoting the six, Aldos said they took the said bus at that time to avail of the free ride. Upon arrival at Laoag City forty minutes later, the six slept at the house of a relative of one of the six.

Then, on Sunday morning, four of the six went to a hardware shop in this city to apply as laborers, while the two others went to another shop.

After lunchtime of the same day, three of the six decided to go home to Solsona. The remaining three, who were the same persons who left for another place after their drinking session on May 6, followed on Monday morning.

“It’s hard to believe what they have said that’s why we will continue monitoring them, especially the last three who came home only yesterday (Monday) because they were the same group that slept together after their drinking session last Friday,” Aldos said.

According to him, the five who drunk last Friday were very intoxicated that night. One of the three who transferred to another place later that night is also rumored to have “tasted” illegal drugs.

But even if the six were familiar about the presence of Takemoto in their village, they claimed to have no reason to be hostile to the Japanese or to the latter’s family, said Aldos.

A check on Monday at the house where the three men slept yielded negative for possession of blood-stained weapon and clothes. It can be recalled that no weapon was found at the crime scene by responding policemen.

The mother of one of the three also confirmed that the three men arrived at said place at past 11 pm of Friday, slept there, and never left the house until morning of Saturday.

“The information we got from them is not sufficient to link them to the case. So we will continue to monitor their activities and to gather information from other people in the vicinity,” Aldos said.

He admitted that despite their questioning of the six, the police is still facing a blank wall in its investigation because of the absence of any idea as to the motive of the crime, and of any lead that would track down the suspects.

Aldos will await the result of the comparison test on the fingerprints of the six and the fingerprints lifted from the crime scene. The fingerprints of the six were submitted yesterday morning to the Ilocos Norte Provincial Police Crime Laboratory located in this city./DMS