Village watchman tagged in triple killing in Manila

Suspect Nestor Delizalde

The police are looking for a barangay (village) watchman believed to be behind the killing of three women who were found with slit throats inside their house in Sta. Cruz, Manila, on Monday.

This was after a witness said she saw Nestor Delizalde, a watchman of Barangay 225, climbing down a tree at the back of the victims’ house at 2017 Yakal corner Herrera streets at 3:15 a.m.

Police Officer 3 Rodel Benitez of the Manila Police District homicide section identified the victims as Teresa Tan, 65; her daughter Evelyn Tan, 40, an executive officer of Banco de Oro;  and their housemaid, Cristina Bartolay, 22, a native of Sorsogon.

Their bodies were discovered after the driver of a rental car went to the house to pick up Evelyn who was supposed to leave for a business trip. When no one answered his calls, he asked for help from barangay officials.

According to the witness who lives behind the victims’ house, she heard screams and afterward, saw the leaves of the tree behind the house rustling.

When she used a flashlight to take a look, she saw a person coming down the tree.

The man whom she identified as Delizalde crossed a shallow waterway and when she called out to him and asked him what he was doing in the victims’ house, he replied, “Just keep quiet. I had to do away with them.”

He then gave her several crisp P100 bills from a wad he took from a bag he was carrying before he got into a tricycle, the witness said.

The witness, a neighbor of the suspect, said Delizalde was a known drug user and had been jailed before for robbery.

Policemen later recovered a pair of rubber shoes and a watchman’s vest and shirt at the foot of the tree.

Originally posted: 1:03 pm | Monday, November 12th, 2012