Fishermen in death of Japanese exec, Pinay partner give up

MANILA, Philippines - Three fishermen hired to dispose the bodies of a Japanese executive and his Filipina partner have surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and owned up to the crime.

They detailed how Yuji Okada and Honeylyn Cirunay died in the hands of the Japanese’s adopted daughter and her boyfriend, said lawyer Joel Tovera, chief of the NBI’s Death Investigation Division.

The fishermen identified only as Eddie, Louie and Dasto said the victims’ bodies were disposed twice. The victims were buried first then thrown off the waters near the Pacific Ocean.

“They surrendered one after the other and corroborated their statements,” Tovera told The STAR.

Okada and Cirunay were supposed to meet his adopted daughter Ashley and her boyfriend Don Raleigh Reyes in Parañaque to discuss property settlement on June 27. But the couple has been reported missing since then.

Reyes’ father, Don Niel dela Peña, told investigators that his son and Ashley were behind the killing of the couple.

Using Ashley’s black Honda sedan with license plate ZPT-727, the fishermen brought the victims’ bodies near a river in Infanta, Quezon.

They said they buried the remains before throwing them in the waters of Polilio Islands.