MPD tracking down suspect in condo slay

Police are poised to arrest within 24 hours the prime suspect in the slaying of a 33-year-old Chinese-Filipino businesswoman who was shot dead inside her condominium unit in Ermita, Manila last Sunday night.

The body of Josephine Ong was found by security guards inside her bedroom at the fourth floor unit of the Matimyas House condominium on M.H. del Pilar street, Ermita at 10 p.m., according to officer-on-case Inspector Victor Miparanum.

The victim, who was in a kneeling position by the bed, had been shot in the nape, the bullet exiting her mouth. Probers recovered an empty shell of a caliber .45 pistol near the body.

Security guard Dandy Zaganay said his suspicion was aroused after he saw a male friend of the victim drive off with her car last Sunday night. He went up to the victim’s room and knocked repeatedly on the door.

When Ong failed to open the door, Zaganay asked another guard, Renie Banol, to enter the locked room by passing through the fire exit.

Manila Police District homicide section head Chief Inspector Alejandro Yanquiling Jr. told The STAR they have established the identity of the suspect. "My men are already on the trail of the suspect. We expect to arrest him within 24 hours," Yanquiling said.