Cops arrest twins suspected of killing boy, 4, to steal his phone in Pampanga

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Policemen in this Pampanga capital arrested on Wednesday (Feb. 17) the twin brothers who allegedly killed a 4-year-old boy to steal his phone, police said.

The Salonga brothers John Kevin and John Mark, 18, were caught at the village of Sindalan 48 hours after the boy, Kian Angel Belleza, went missing in Northville 14, a site at the village of Calutlut where informal settlers living along Philippine National Railway tracks had been moved.

While detained at the police’s Compac 3, the twins supposedly admitted they strangled the boy, stuffed his mouth with a towel and bludgeoned him with a rock.

The suspects lived across the victim’s home. The phone is an Oppo brand that fetches P8,000.

They claimed to have sold the boy’s phone for P2,000, which they planned to spend on transportation going to Metro Manila to pursue their dreams of becoming a boxer and a movie star.

Joel Manarang, the victim’s father, said a tricycle driver parked in front of their house late Wednesday night, left a reusable bag that contained his son’s body and sped off.

The driver then proceeded to the village hall to report that the bag was left by his two passengers who hailed him in front of that house, Manalang said in a video posted on social media.

Manalang said his partner, Maria Angela Belleza, saw the twins carrying what she believed was something heavy last Monday (Feb. 15) but she did not find anything strange about it. Kian was her second child.

Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon, Central Luzon police director, said the twins face murder charges.

TSB