Cops ready slay raps vs Katrina Paula's suitor

MANILA, Philippines - Police are preparing to file murder charges against the supposed suitor of Katrina Paula who is being tagged as the gunman in the killing of the actress’s businessman husband last week. Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr, chief of the Homicide Investigation Section of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), said they already have two witnesses who positively identified Steve Jenares as one of the two suspects who attacked victim Anthony Yap, 38. Yap, part owner of a karaoke bar along West Avenue, was shot dead by one of two-motorcycle-riding men in front of his house in Barangay Nayon Kanluran in Quezon City at 6:15 a.m. last Thursday while he was about to park his Honda Civic car. The two witnesses are both residents of the same barangay, Pedrozo added. Jenares was among those immediately considered as a suspect in the killing because he had earlier figured in a spat with Yap. The slain businessman allegedly discovered that Jenares had been wooing Paula through text messages. Yap ended up confronting Jenares over the phone. In July - five months prior to his death - Yap escaped an ambush attempt reportedly staged by Jenares in front of the former’s karaoke bar in Quezon City. Jenares was implicated in that earlier attack because of an artist's sketch and a license plate later traced to him. A murder case is pending before the city prosecutor against Jenares in connection with the July shooting incident. An arrest warrant has yet to be issued against him. Paula, whose real name is Angeline Samonte-Yap, had already appeared before the QCPD Criminal Investigation Section Monday noon to give her statement on the latest attack on her husband. Jenares was already interviewed in a television report where he claimed innocence to the crime. For his part, Pedrozo challenged Jenares to face investigators and prove that he had nothing to do with the shooting incident. Pedrozo made the call as Jenares remained elusive and could not be found in his Quezon City home as of this posting. “We are still trying to locate him (Jenares) as he may have the motive for killing Yap," Pedrozo earlier told reporters. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV