Japanese businessman killed in front of kids

A Japanese businessman was abducted, robbed and shot dead in front of his children by armed men in Singalong, Manila past midnight yesterday, barely an hour after arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Forty-two-year-old Masashi Matsuura was declared dead on arrival at the Ospital ng Maynila for multiple gunshot wounds in the body.

At 10 p.m. last Tuesday, the Japanese national was met by his brother-in-law Ike Manuel, his children Nina, Ken and Yoya, and his niece Rachel Vanessa David at the NAIA. The group boarded a blue Kia Pregio van (CNZ-848) driven by Manuel on their way to Tarlac City, where the Japanese owned a resthouse.

Just past midnight, the van was traversing the stretch of Roxas Boulevard when a dark colored Toyota sedan (TBE-987) blocked the victim’s vehicle.

At this point, the brother-in-law fled. Three armed men wearing jackets and pretending to be police officers ordered the passengers to alight and boarded the van, telling Matsuura they were checking his belongings for illegal drugs at the national police headquarters.

One of the suspects handcuffed the Japanese and told him to sit in front of the van with his 16-year-old daughter Nina. The younger children were also inside the vehicle, which was driven by one of the suspects.

Upon reaching a dark portion in San Andres, the suspects took Matsuura’s wallet, passport and luggage. The loot was transferred to the suspects’ car which had been tailing the van.

As the vehicles reached the corner of Singalong and Quirino Avenue in Malate, the suspects stopped the van and transferred to their car. One of the suspects then shot Matsuura with an automatic rifle.

Investigators recovered one slug and one spent shell of a caliber 9mm inside the victim’s van.

The victim’s companions described the suspects as in their mid-40s and armed with long and short firearms. Two of the suspects were wearing bullcaps with "PNP" markings.

The children were fetched by officials of the Japan Embassy at the WPD headquarters yesterday morning, pending notification of the victim’s death to his wife.

Western Police District homicide section chief Senior Inspector Alberto Peco said they are looking into the possibility that the suspects were hired killers, with the robbery being perpetrated to mislead probers.

Investigators are now interrogating Manuel, the brother of the victim’s second Filipina wife and mother of the three children.