Couple shot dead in Manila home

MANILA, Philippines – A man and his live-in partner were shot and killed inside their house in Sampaloc, Manila, as their five-year-old son slept on a bed nearby, unaware of his parents’ fate.

The boy woke up only upon the prodding of the police after they finished looking for evidence at the crime scene just before dawn on Monday.

The Manila Police District identified the victims as Ronualdo Batuto, 35, a secretary at a law firm, and his live-in partner, Niña dela Cruz, 31.

Investigators are withholding the identity of the couple’s son who remains in the custody of welfare workers for now.

“He doesn’t know what happened yet,” the case investigator, PO2 Dennis Turla, said on Monday.

“He hasn’t been told that his parents are gone. What the boy knows is that his father will come to take him home,” he added.

The shooting happened inside the couple’s house on Geronimo Street in Sampaloc, Manila, around 1:30 a.m. on Monday.

Turla said both victims were discovered lying near the main door. They had each been shot three times.

Their son was found sound asleep on the couple’s bed, having slept through the whole attack. Turla said that the victims apparently got out of bed, opened the door and were shot dead.

Investigators have yet to zero in on the motive for the killing. The main door was not forcibly opened while there were no valuables missing inside the house.

The victims’ relatives also claimed that the couple had no quarrel with anybody.

The police, however, said that they were trying to identify a man who was spotted by witnesses running from the couple’s house to a white car, which then sped away.