Laundry shop owner killed in pre-dawn heist

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino-Chinese businessman was killed when at least three men robbed his laundry shop in Sta. Cruz, Manila before dawn yesterday.

The robbers also stabbed his wife and nanny and kidnapped the victim’s four-year-old son, but later abandoned the child in his father’s car several kilometers away from the shop.

Police officers found the body of Kelvin Chioa, 34, at the second floor of his Bull’s Eye Laundry Shop along Yakal street. Investigators counted at least 12 stab wounds in his face and body.

Chioa’s 32-year-old wife, Charlene, and their nanny, Maricel Livrando, 25, were rushed to the Metropolitan Hospital for stab wounds.

Senior Police Officer 3 Virgo Villareal said Chioa’s workers, who were sleeping at the ground floor of the shop, were awakened at around 4:30 a.m. by men knocking at the gate.

Jane Macaraig, 21, said she saw four men at the gate and asked them what they wanted.

The men told Macaraig they were sent by “Sir Philip” from another branch of the laundry shop to fix one of the machines. When the workers said Chioa was still asleep, the men said they would return later but asked if they could leave their bags behind.

As the workers opened the door, the men barged their way into the shop. Brandishing fan knives, the men herded Macaraig and the other employees – Jenny Rose Puno, 19; and Wilson Clores, 21 – near the bathroom, where they were bound and gagged with packaging tape.

Kidnapped, abandoned

Police said the robbers searched through the shop’s drawers then went up to the second floor, where the Chioas’ rooms are located.

The robbers first went into the boy’s bedroom, where Livrando was also sleeping. She screamed for help and tried to protect her ward as the robbers attacked her.

Chioa, who heard Livrando’s screams, tried to defend his family but was repeatedly stabbed. Charlene, who went to her husband’s aid, was also attacked.

The robbers took the boy after ransacking the second-floor rooms. They then boarded Chioa’s car and sped away. The robbers abandoned the child and the car at the corner of Tomas Mapua and Alvarez streets, where passersby found the boy wandering, clad in a bloodstained shirt. 

Puno and Clores said they were able to break free. When they found out what happened to the Chioas, they reported the incident to the police.

Senior Inspector Joey de Ocampo, who heads the homicide section of the Manila Police District, said “Gapos Gang” members could be behind the heist and the killing.

The Chioas’ employees could not describe the robbers to the police, saying the men told them not to look at their faces. The workers said one of the robbers was called “Ricky.”

Chiao also ran three more laundry shop branches in the Binondo, Alvarez and Bambang areas, according to De Ocampo.

Police will invite all Chiao’s workers for questioning, since the robbers were aware that the victim had other shops, according to De Ocampo.