MANILA, Philippines - Police are currently looking into the possibility that the 18-year-old commercial model who fell from the 18th floor of a condominium building in Quezon City Wednesday was killed when a sex and drug party went out of control.
Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano, head of the Quezon City Police District – Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU), said they are basing their investigation on a statement by the victim’s former girlfriend, Vanessa Onemoto, 20, who said television talent Benjie Peralta had told her about such parties before they broke up.
Homicide probers have yet to examine the crime scene since the management of the Victoria Towers building, located at the corner of Panay and Timog Avenues in Barangay West Triangle, refuses to allow police to enter the room Peralta was in when he fell.
Elenzano said the owner of the high-rise condominium wants the unit’s registered occupant to be the one to grant entry to Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) personnel.
Though the room has been cordoned and security guards have been given strict instructions not to touch or contaminate anything, he said they might have to apply for a search warrant in order to gain access to the supposed crime scene.
Elenzano said according to Onemoto, her ex-boyfriend was with Ryan Lilan, who kept calling her and telling her how Peralta has become uncontrollable and that the victim would bring him to the house where he and Onemoto used to live.
Police have established that Onemoto was not with the victim when he was killed as she was at a bar on Timog Avenue.
When Onemoto, a member of the game show Deal or No Deal’s 26K group, tried calling Lilan back, she said she could no longer reach him. She later learned her ex-boyfriend had died.
Elenzano said the possibility that Peralta committed suicide is very low, noting that “from the very beginning, our investigation focused on foul play.”
He also took note of how the rooms of the condominium units of Victoria Towers have thick glass walls that cannot be shattered unless something or someone one is thrown against it.
Aside from Peralta and Lilan, police are looking for Antonio Pena Jr., the registered owner of the condominium unit; R.A Carlos; and Lucky Mercado.
The group, using a black Toyota Camry (ZHY-847), allegedly left the premises minutes after the discovery of Peralta’s body, which landed on the sixth floor.
Security logbook records show the victim and his companions were also with a certain Jeff San Jose and an Angelika Nakayama, who left the building before the incident.