NINE witnesses have identified Police Officer 3 Ronald Fontejon as the man who was seen with a woman who was later found dead in a room in a Metro Manila inn on Sunday.
Chief Insp. Joey de Ocampo, head of the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section, on Friday said the witnesses were employees of Beehive Traveller’s Inn in Sampaloc district, Manila.
The witnesses identified Fontejon as the killer of Kylie Ann Barroca, whose body was found in the bathroom of a room in the inn.
A video footage from the inn’s security camera showed Fontejon and Barroca enter the inn with two children on Sunday.
Barroca’s body was discovered by inn employees because of the cries of the children.
De Ocampo said Fontejon, a member of the Philippine National Police Security and Protection Group (PSPG), was turned over to the Manila Police by his superiors on Thursday.
The PSPG is a police unit tasked with the protection of important people. Fontejon is assigned to the Diplomatic Protection Unit of the PSPG.
A source in the police said the PSPG head, Chief Supt. Wilhelm Barlis, had asked the MPD to remand custody of Fontejon to the PSPG.
De Ocampo said he would leave the custody question to the court to settle.
“They can make the request to the prosecutor’s office, and we will comply with the court’s decision,” De Ocampo said.
Fontejon declined to be interviewed for this report.
Barroca’s children, aged 2 and 4, are now under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, De Ocampo said.
De Ocampo said Barroca’s relation with Fontejon remained to be established.
“We have not confirmed if they are married,” De Ocampo said.
He said Fontejon denied the children in the inn’s room were his.