Man arrested for brother’s slay

MANILA, Philippines – A 51-year-old man accused of killing his younger brother in Caloocan City on Jan. 1 was arrested in Valenzuela Tuesday night.

O’donell Diaz was collared by members of the Caloocan police investigation division, headed by Chief Inspector Ilustre Mendoza, while attending the wake of his brother, Ramon Diaz III, along Capt. Rado street in Gen. T. De Leon, Valenzuela.

Relatives of the victim were shocked when they learned that Diaz was the main suspect in the killing of his brother.

Initial reports said the Diaz brothers and three other relatives were on a tricycle driven by Raymond Adriano when the victim suddenly fell over, with a stab wound in the chest, when they reached the corner of Tullahan Road and Manotok Compound in Sta. Queteria.

Adriano allegedly saw O’donell stab his younger brother. The suspect reportedly became angry when Adriano tried to help the victim. 

Ramon, a security officer at the North Luzon Expressway, died on the way to the hospital.  Adriano told police that the suspect threatened to kill him if he told the truth, but his conscience prompted him to speak out.

At the police station, Diaz said he was “not his brother’s keeper.” 

Mendoza said the suspect got angry at his brother after the latter refused to agree to sell their ancestral land.

“Ramon reportedly told his older brother that they could only sell the property over his dead body,” Mendoza told The STAR.