MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Police District released yesterday a sketch of one of the seven armed men who ambushed a school administrator in Binondo, Manila Monday night.
Witnesses said one of the attackers was between 20 to 25 years old, with a dark complexion, an oval face, and shoulder-length hair.
Police said Lauriano Yulo, 40, a teacher and administrator at the Philippine Tiong Se Academy, was driving his white Toyota Revo when the gunmen blocked his car along Dela Reina street and shot him repeatedly, killing him on the spot.
Police ruled out robbery as the motive for the attack since the suspects did not take any valuables from the victim. Funeral attendants surrendered to homicide investigators some P1,500 recovered from the victim.
However, Yulo’s relative and a school janitor said he was carrying at least P150,000 at the time of his death.
In his statement to police, the janitor said that shortly before Yulo’s death, the victim invited him to have lunch and showed him a thick bundle of money tied with a rubber band.
A police official who responded to the scene of the crime reportedly also saw bundles of money wrapped in plastic inside the victim’s car. A victim’s uncle also told police that Yulo was in possession of a large sum of money at the time of the ambush.
However, responding homicide investigators reported that they failed to find the money at the crime scene.
Scene of the Crime Operation personnel, led by Chief Inspector Mary Grace Alvarez, arrived first at the scene, according to homicide investigators. SOCO is tasked to conduct preliminary investigation and gather evidence at the scene of the crime. – Nestor Etolle