A former police officer named Michael Guiang was tagged as the alleged mastermind in the high-profile murders of Pampanga beauty pageant contestant Geneva Lopez and her Israeli boyfriend Yitshak Cohen, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Thursday.
PNP Spokesperson P/Col. Jean Fajardo said in a press briefing that Guiang was the one who lured the victims to the crime scene. She noted that the erstwhile cop has direct contact with them and had clear motivation to commit murder.
“Our direction is still there. This Guiang really has an axe to grind because he wants to take back the land he mortgaged… which has been foreclosed because he has not recovered and paid his debt,” Fajardo said.
According to the PNP official, other suspects were offered money for their participation in the crime. One of these was “Junjun”, who was offered P50,000, and was the one who told the police the location of the quarry site, where the victims’ bodies were buried.
During the preliminary investigation, Guiang told police he talked to the couple and that they separated after their visit to the property.
The victims were last seen alive on June 21 when they drove to Capas, Tarlac to check out a property they were supposedly planning to purchase before they were reported missing the same day.
PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Police Major General Leo Francisco said Guiang mortgaged a property to Lopez. When the beauty contestant wanted to claim the land, Guiang refused.
The former cop told Lopez that the property has another buyer, who is one of the arrested persons of interest, another ex-policeman Rommel Aboso. Francisco said the two former cops plotted to kill the couple.
“Guiang said that there is also a buyer for the land he mortgaged and he will introduce Aboso to Geneva as the buyer,” Francisco said. “From that point, they met in Barangay Armenia and these two
ex-policemen shot the lovers. So, if you see it, it’s a planned activity.”
Authorities on July 5 found the couple’s bodies buried in an unmarked grave at a quarry site in Barangay Sta. Lucia in Capas, Tarlac.
Autopsy reports showed the couple were both shot twice, Lopez sustained gunshot wounds on the back of her torso and her thigh while Cohen was shot on the chest and near the armpit.
Five persons of interest in the killings are now in police custody. Guiang, Aboso, and a certain “Jeff” are already considered suspects. The three are facing two counts of murder, according to Francisco.
The other two persons of interest in police custody are “Junjun” and “Dondon,” who voluntarily surrendered to authorities. Two more persons of interest are currently at large.
