Father of yoga practitioner slain by carjackers seeks help of CIDG, NBI

MANILA, Philippines – The father of the woman who was killed by car thieves has sought the help of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the National Bureau of Investigation in finding justice for his daughter.

“I have asked the help of (Chief Supt) Samuel Pagdilao, the head of the CIDG and the NBI because I believe a large syndicate was behind the robbery and the killing of my daughter,” Lawyer Odon Teaño, 75, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Teresa Teaño, 54, was laid to rest at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City amid a drizzle on Sunday morning.

A former regional director of the Department of Interior and Local Governments and consultant of the Internal Affairs Service of the Philippine National Police, the elder Teaño said it was still difficult to accept Teresa’s death.

Last Wednesday morning, Teresa was on her way to a meditation class at the center of Brahma Kumaris of which she was a member, when she was shot and run over by car thieves before taking off with her newly bought Hyundai Accent.

An administrative assistant at the Land Registration Authority, Teresa left three children, the youngest is 18.

“After the burial, I am now ready to help in the investigation. I even want a private investigation parallel to what the police are doing,” Teaño said, adding he had recently joined the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) to join other relatives of crime victims in the search for justice.

He stressed that the police must first identify the group to which the killers belonged to speed up the tracking of the killers.

In believing that the killers belonged to a large syndicate, Teaño said, “Look at how daring they were. They did that at 7 in the morning when students were going to schools, employees were going to their offices. There’s even a traffic light at the corner where she was shot.”

A best friend of Teresa, who wished to be identified only as Dr. Terry, said all their friends were at a loss as to where to find justice.

“After the burial, she might be an incident, a code file. That’s why we are asking the VACC and the police to help us,” she said.

Relatives and friends of Teaño, mostly dressed in white, attended the funeral service.