Mother and child's killer in Taguig nabbed

MANILA, Philippines - Taguig City police arrested on Thursday night the suspected killer of a woman and her four-year-old daughter whose bodies were found sprawled along a portion of the C5 Road near an international school in the city.

Taguig City Police chief Senior Superintendent Arthur Felix Asis said the suspect, Danny Belono, 45, a native of Zamboanga del Norte, was arrested at about 10 p.m. at his shanty in an urban poor community at the back of SM Aura.

Belono is accused of killing his common-law-wife Jonalyn Gantiao,30; and her four-year old daughter, Gwenn Angel.

Asis said the motive behind the killings was jealousy. The victims had lived with the suspect.

Southern Police District (SPD) director Chief Superintendent Jose Erwin Villacorte earlier said that the victims were found at about 6 a.m. on Thursday sprawled at the foot of a Meralco electric post near the Treston International School.

Villacorte said the victims showed head injuries that could have been caused by a blunt object, such as a rock.

"Investigators found at the crime scene rocks which have traces of blood. But we are still investigating," said Villacorte.

Villacorte said a witness saw Belono talking with Gantiao at the crime scene at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday.

"The witness saw the woman who was holding the child, talking with the man while they were seating on the pavement gutter," he said.

Belono is now detained at the Taguig Police headquarters as criminal charges are being readied against him.