Company VP dies in condo plunge

His last written message was brief as it was chilling: “Please cremate me immediately.”

A top executive of a major car dealership firm died early Thursday in a fall from the 10th floor of his Makati City condominium, where the police said a note was found indicating that he committed suicide.

The family of Cesar Genato, vice president for finance of Citimotors Inc. based on Chino Roces Avenue (formerly Pasong Tamo), had “accepted the fact that he committed suicide and requested (us) not to conduct further investigation by signing a waiver,” according to city police chief Senior Supt. Manuel Lukban.

Genato, a 70-year-old bachelor, was found dead with head injuries in front of Le Triomphe Condominium on HV dela Costa Street, Salcedo Village, just before 4 a.m.

Montatip Meteesutipong, 33, another resident of the condominium, recalled hearing a loud thud that sent her rushing to her terrace. From there she spotted Genato’s body on the pavement.

Investigators said Genato apparently jumped from the terrace of his own unit on the 10th floor.

In a statement to the police, the victim’s driver Mark Anthony Assen, 32, said that prior to the incident, Genato’s sister Sylvia Ching phoned him around 6 p.m. Wednesday and instructed him to “keep an eye” on his boss and “never leave him alone inside his unit.”

Assen was still on his way to the condominium when he got the call. When he arrived there at 7:47 a.m., Genato asked him to take some of his clothes to his other house in Silang, Cavite province.

After doing the errand, the driver made it back to the condo around 10 p.m. and tried to call Genato on the phone to tell him that he was leaving his car keys with the security guard.

But Genato did not answer his calls, Assen said.

Lukban said a note conveying a request for an immediate cremation was found on

Genato’s bedside table. Genato’s family confirmed that the note was in his handwriting.

Lukban, quoting the family, said the Citimotors executive had been having personal problems prior to his death.

Despite the waiver calling off a police investigation, the victim’s body was brought to Veronica funeral homes in Pasay City for autopsy.

Citimotors has been the distributor of Mitsubishi vehicles in the country over the last 25 years.

First posted 12:50 pm | Thursday, February 28th, 2013