PNP: Anson Que, driver strangled to death, autopsy showed

Filipino-Chinese businessman Anson Que (also known as Anson Tan) and his driver Armanie Pabillo died due to strangulation, as shown in an autopsy report, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Monday.

“Lumabas na rin po yung result ng autopsy at namatay po ang dalawang biktima, ang nakalagay po doon na cause of death po ay asphyxia by manual strangulation,” PNP spokesperson Police Brigadier General Jean Fajardo said in a press conference.

(The autopsy results are now out, showing that the two victims died due to asphyxia by manual strangulation.)

“Sinakal po sila. Ang pinangsakal po sa kanila ay lubid po na orange (They were strangled to death using an orange rope),” she added.

Fajardo said two Filipino suspects in police custody, Ricardo Austria David and Raymart Catequista, said that they were the ones who killed the victims as ordered by Chinese national David Tan Liao.

“Ang pumatay po sa kanila ay yung dalawang Filipino po according to their statement po. At ang nag-utos daw po sa kanila ay si Ginoong David Tan Liao,” she said.

(The ones who killed them were the two Filipinos, according to their statement. And the one who ordered them was Mr. David Tan Liao.)

Fajardo said that Pabillo’s DNA matched with the sample taken from a spoon inside the apartment in  Meycauayan, Bulacan where the victims were taken and killed.

Some fingerprints lifted from the apartment also matched the suspects. 

Two other Chinese "principals" were involved in the crime and remain free, according to the police.

On April 10, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) confirmed that the bodies of Que and his driver were found with their arms tied behind their backs and stuffed inside nylon bags that were left on a grassy portion of a road in Rodriguez, Rizal. 

They were last seen alive on March 29 when they left the businessman’s office in Valenzuela City.

Que’s family reportedly sent three ransom payments to the kidnappers totalling P100 million, but the victims were still killed.

The PNP said this case was “out of the ordinary” since kidnappers usually release their victims after payment of ransom.

The PNP also stated that they are investigating the possibility that the crime was connected to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO). 

Que’s family, however, denied allegations linking him to POGO, saying that they did not own any rental property in Bulacan. –NB, GMA Integrated News