A rope around his neck and crude oil poured over his body were the telltale signs of a man whose life ended in violence.
Police are investigating the death of Bernard Liu, who was found dead yesterday in his home in Naya Subdivision, barangay Tangke Talisay City, where he lived alone.
Liu testified against two Cebu businessmen in a 2001 House committee hearing on illegal drugs where the brothers were linked to the drug trade and then later cleared.
Liu’s body was already decomposing when police discovered the corpse at the back of his house past 11 a.m. Police visited the site after neighbors complained of the foul smell coming from Liu’s house, said Eddie Recamara, Talisay police chief.
Liu was found lying on his back with a nylon cord tied around his neck.
Recamera said police could not say whether he was murdered or committed suicide until an autopsy is made.
He said the victim may have been dead for at least five days based on the body’s state of decomposition.
His remains were cremated last night at Rolling Hills funeral parlor at the request of his daughter and a brother.
Aside from the foul smell noticed by neighbors, barangay councilor Leo Cabalan, who lives a few houses away, said residents wondered why Bernard, who would go out to buy cooked food, wasn’t seen for more than two weeks.
SPO4 Daniel Tarucan of the Talisay City Police said they had no reports of Liu receiving death threats.
He said Liu had a “5-6” lending business before and that a report was once made to the barangay hall about a previous robbery where Liu lost his .45 caliber handgun to thieves.
“We are still looking for possible “angles” on the cause of his death. We don’t have any leads yet,” Tarucan said.
He said belongings in the house were found in disarray yesterday, a sign that there may have been an intruder.
A metal urn containing the ashes of Liu’s father was gone as well as a gold bracelet with the engraved name of his father which was placed on top of the jar.
Police said Liu was estranged from his daughter, who moved out after a conflict and now lives in Mingalilla town
“His daughter visited him last August 30 and that was the last time that they have seen each other,” he said.
Liu, along with Ananias Dy, testified in a congressional inquiry on illegal drugs on October 13, 2001. They linked their former bosses — brothers Peter and Wellington Lim, both wealthy businessmen — to the illegal drug trade.
The Lim brothers were eventually cleared and filed libel charges against their accuser.
They also sued Dy and Liu for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act based on the two’ men’s admission in a congressional hearing that they once brought into the country a golf bag containing illegal drugs from Hong Kong.
The court issued an arrest warrant for Liu and Dy but the two went into hiding.
In July 2006, Dy was shot dead by two unidentified men at the corner of Salvador and Katipunan Streets in Barangay Labangon Cebu City.
Liu surrendered but was later released after the court dismissed the drug case. The libel case against him was also dismissed.
Yesterday, lawyer Gerardo Carillo, who was his legal counsel in the libel case which businessman Peter Lim filed against him and co-accused Ananias Dy, said he was surprised about Liu’s death.
“Klaro kaayo nga naay kalagot ang nagpatay kay nganong gi ingon ato man pag patay,” he said. (It’s clear whoever killed him was very angry.)
Carillo said he already sent a text message to former Cebu City south district representative Antonio Cuenco who is now in Indonesia, to inform him of Liu’s death.
Cuenco, who is now Secretary-General of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), was a congressman who called the House inquiry in 2001 in aid of his plan to draft the Comprehensive Drugs Act.
Carillo said he was asked by Cuenco in 2001 to defend Liu and the late Ananias Dy in the libel case filed against them by the Lim brothers.
Carillo prepared their affidavits.
Carillo said he last spoke with his two clients shortly after arrest warrants were issued against them. He said he saw Liu in Talamban, Cebu City but was not able to talk to him.
Dy was gunned down in Labangon, Cebu City in June 2006.
Carillo said he received a text message from a relative of Liu yesterday informing him of Liu’s death. With Inquirer report, Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac and Correspondent Gabriel C. Bonjoc