Three men face charges for whistle-blower’s death

Charges of robbery with homicide were filed in court yesterday against  three young men for  the gruesome killing last September 2011 of drug case whistle-blower Bernard Liu.

Rhem Balquin, 18; Bernie Balquin, 21; and Pepo Pateño, 19 were indicted by the Talisay City Prosecutors’ Office after witnesses identified them as the perpetrators.

No bail was recommended.

Only Rhem has been arrested. The  two other accused remain at large.

Aside from the testimonies of witnesses, police recovered inside the residence of one of the accused a .38 caliber revolver, which corresponds to the firearm registered in the name of Liu.

Subpoenas were  sent to the accused for them to answer the allegations, but they didn’t  submit  counter-affidavits.

One of the witnesses said  he saw the three accused climbed the fence of Liu’s house.

About half an hour later, said the witness,  he also climbed up the fence to see what was going on inside.

The witness told the court that he saw Bernie knock on the door of Liu’s house with Rhem and Pateño positioning themselves on both sides of the door.

When Liu opened the door and got out the house, Rhem allegedly struck  him in the head with a piece of wood.

Then Bernie held the victim as Pateño punched Liu on the head causing him to slump to the ground.

The three accused then carried Liu  to the back of his house with Bernie holding Liu’s head and Rhem and Pateño holding Liu’s feet.

The witness said he could no longer see what happened next.

Police said they believed the motive of the crime was to rob Liu.

The victim’s metal urn containing his father’s ashes and a gold bracelet were missing.

Liu’s gun was later  recovered in the house of Rhem in barangay Tangke, Talisay City.

The decomposing body of Liu was  found  at the back of his residence in barangay Tangke, Talisay City.

Autopsy results showed that he had been  strangled.

A rope was found tied around the victim’s neck.

His  body was left outside the kitchen of his house.

Autopsy results  showed that his head sustained blunt force trauma caused by a hard object.

A decade ago, Liu testified in a congressional inquiry on drugs and implicated  his former employers, brothers Peter and Wellington Lim as alleged drug lords.