Suspect in slaying of 3 women hunted

MANILA, Philippines - Operatives of the Manila Police District (MPD) have launched a manhunt for the suspect in the killing of three women in separate incidents in the city since June this year.

Police Officer 3 Rodel Benitez said they scoured Baseco Compound in search of Lando Kasim after witnesses spotted him in the area yesterday but police failed to arrest him.

Kasim is wanted for the murder of Almira Reyes last Oct. 30 on Peñarubia street, Del Pan in Binondo. The MPD warrant section said the suspect also has pending warrant of arrest for robbery in 2006.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footages showed that Reyes, 38, was gunned down by the suspect while chatting with her relatives in front of an eatery in Binondo.

The victim’s niece positively identified Kasim as the one who killed her aunt.

Benitez said Reyes was the third woman killed by the suspect since June this year.

Reyes, like the two other victims, were engaged in “5-6” lending business, he added.

Police said that Carmina Odoño, 30, was fetching her four-year-old child at a preparatory school along La Suerte street when Kasim shot her dead on June 13.

Kasim’s other victim, Gina Castillo, 40, was also fetching her son at the same school when the suspect shot her with a caliber .45 handgun on June 26.

Police Officer 3 Amelito Lopez, who handled both cases, said Odoño could have been mistaken by the suspect as Castillo.