A plastic drum, which was fished off Pasig River last Fri, Apr 8, contained the body of businesswoman Adora Lazatin, 50. The drum was first sighted near the Escolta ferry station by two Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) employees.
“Based on her family’s complaint, Lazatin, who owned a parcel of land in Las Piñas City, was supposed to meet a buyer somewhere in the Bicutan area last Mon, Apr 4. However, they were alarmed when she failed to return home,” reports Aie Balagtas See in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Police confirmed there was foul play involved as soon as they found out that withdrawals continued to be made using Lazatin’s Banco de Oro (BDO) ATM card.
Thus, based on the locations of the ATM withdrawals more than 100 men, including volunteers, were deployed to monitor hundreds of BDO ATM booths in the cities of Manila, Parañaque, Taguig, and Caloocan.
Cops, Bureau of Corrections officer involved
Two men, one of them in a police uniform, were arrested by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operatives as they withdrew PHP50,000 from a BDO ATM booth in Parañaque City at around 2am on Sat, Apr 9, using Lazatin’s ATM card.
The men were identified as Inspector Eljie Jacobe of the National Capital Region Police Supplies Division and Police Officer 1 Mark Jay de los Santos. Their cohorts Police Officer 1 Edmon Gonzales, Bureau of Corrections officer Domingo Balanquit, and a certain Empire Salas were arrested in follow-up operations.
What happened?
The buyer whom Lazatin was supposed to meet was Jacobe.
The report noted: “From Bicutan, Jacobe and his cohorts took Lazatin to Calocoon City, where they would later kill her by strangulation. They wanted to deplete Lazatin’s bank account containing P500,000 first and later, they would demand ransom from her family but they ended up killing her.”
After killing Lazatin, the group withdrew PHP50,000 daily from her bank account using the her ATM card. They also kept her cellular phone working. NBO operatives speculated that they still planned to demand ransom from Lazatin’s family even if they had already murdered her.
As the report indicated. “The daily withdrawals and the phone’s location enabled NBI to trace the group’s movement and eventually Jacobe’s location.”
In a TV Patrol report, Jacobe was shown asking forgiveness from the Lazatin’s family. “Kawawa naman sila (They deserve sympathy),” he said.
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