SPD releases sketch of gift bomb bearer

MANILA, Philippines - The Southern Police District (SPD) released yesterday a sketch of a woman who reportedly brought a gift-wrapped bomb to the Parañaque City residence of a housewife, who was killed in her Taguig City house last December.

The sketch showed a woman, aged 22 to 25 years old, in dark sunglasses and with shoulder-length hair. She was described to be around 4’11” to 5’1” tall by a security guard who received the package at Yvonne Padilla Chua’s residence at Pascor Subdivision in Barangay Sto. Nino, Parañaque City on Dec. 28, 2010.

Senior Superintendent Federico Castro Jr., deputy chief for operations of SPD, said they are still in the process of the verifying the woman’s identity.

The guard earlier told police the woman identified herself as a “maid” of Chua’s mother. He, however, failed to identify any of the househelp of Chua’s mother, Castro said.

According to Castro, they are hopeful that through the picture, the taxi driver who drove the woman to Pascor Subdivision will cooperate with them.

“We are requesting the help of the public and (appealing) to the taxi driver to come out,” Castro said, adding only one taxi entered the subdivision between 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. last Dec. 28 as shown in surveillance camera footage.

Aside from searching for the woman, the task force is also investigating other suspects, including Chua’s immediate family. Police are still eyeing conflict over property as the strongest motive behind the killing, Castro said.

Chua, 32, was killed at her house in Mahogany Phase III on Dec. 29 after opening a package that contained five grenades. The gift was addressed to Chua, with a Christmas greeting signed by a certain “Mama.” The box was brought to her by their driver, who picked up the package from the Parañaque house.