Businesswoman seen as important link in Cebu businessman King’s murder
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Police authorities in Southern Mindanao have finally named the businesswoman believed to have an important link to the June 12 murder of Cebu hotelier Richard King here.
Supt. Aaron Aquino, deputy chief of the Southern Mindanao Police Office, told reporters here on Wednesday, that businesswoman Helen Chua has become a “person of interest” based on text messages found in the four phones that the slain businessmen had owned, and in the phone owned by her secretary, Leah Caballes.
As this developed, a lookout bulletin has been filed before the Bureau of Immigration against Supt. Leonardo Felonia, who was identified by the alleged gunman in the King slay and two more suspects as the one who ordered the businessman’s killing, Aquino, said.
Elaborating on Chua’s link to the murder, Aquino said of the messages found in Caballes’ phone: “Lumalabas sa kanilang CP na may linkage sila sa kaso.”
Caballes earlier surrendered her mobile phone to the police, Aquino said.
However, a report by the Cebu Daily News, the Philippine Dailyi Inquirer’s sister
publication in Cebu, quoted police sources as saying the businesswoman has not been tagged as a suspect yet.
Chua also has reportedly cooperated with investigators and that she has issued a sworn statement about financial irregularities that she has asked King to look into on her behalf in Davao.
Aquino said while Chua was the “malaking tao” (significant personality)that the authorities had been referring to as an important link in the case, a thorough examination of Caballes’ and King’s should be done to determine who the mastermind of the murder was.
Aquino admitted that the police were also trying to establish the identity of a “somebody” who has been offering support to the families of confessed killer Paul Dave Labang and his alleged cohorts, siblings Rommel and Rodel dela Cerna.
He said the police were still piecing together evidence in the King murder case.
On the lookout bulletin on Felonia, former head of the Intelligence Group in Southern Mindanao, Aquino said police have been doing everything to ensure that the suspect would not slip out of the country.
He said the issuance of the lookout bulletin effectively gave the
Bureau of Immigration authority to prevent him from going abroad.
Aquino said Felonia has also remained under restrictive custody in Camp Crame.
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