Bernard Liu, who implicated two Cebu businessmen in in a 2001 congressional hearing on illegal drugs, was strangled.
The cause of his death was confirmed in autopsy results released by the police yesterday.
There were ligature marks around Liu’s neck that indicated he was choked from behind, said Dr. Joe Martin Fuentes, medicolegal officer of the Philippine National Police.
Liu’s remains were found outside his house in Nava Subdivision, barangay Tangke, Talisay City, on Thursday but the autopsy showed he was killed more than two weeks ago but not more than a month.
“I think Liu knew his assailants,” said Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador Jr., Cebu provincial police chief.
He said police are looking into reports that local hoodlums may have broken into Liu’s home, killed him and then ransacked his house.
He said Liu previously operated a “5-6” lending business.
Liu was found lying on his back with a rope around his neck.
There were initial news reports that his body was covered with crude oil but Dr. Fuentes said this was actually body fluids that came out of Liu’s remains, which was already decomposing.
A cut in the front of Liu’s head was caused by a hard object or blunt force. “There were horizontal ligature marks around his neck and the “weight of gravity” of strangulation came from the back. He has a lacerated wound on the forehead region, which was caused by a hard object or blunt force,” Fuentes said.
Liu, along with Ananias Dy, testified in a 2001 congressional hearing in Cebu against their former employers Peter and Wellington Lim, accusing them of illegal drug trafficking.
The businessmen were later cleared and filed libel charges against their accusers.
Dy was gunned down by motorcycle-riding gunmen in barangay Labangon, Cebu City, in July 2006. Her murder remains unresolved.
The identity of Liu’s killers remains the subject of investigation.
Comendador said a barangay hall report stated that Liu lost a .45 pistol to thieves.
He said Liu’s house was found in disarray with a metal urn containing the ashes of Liu’s father missing along with a gold bracelet placed on top of the jar.
Supt. Eddie Recamara, Talisay City police chief, said they were also looking into reports that Liu made some enemies in the barangay he lived in.
Acting Cebu Gov. Julian “Teban” Daan said he would ask the Provincial Board (PB) on Monday to pass a resolution urging the police to immediately resolve Liu’s murder.
Daan, who survived a robbery attempt in his own residence in Talisay City months ago, said Liu’s murder could sow fear and discourage potential whistleblowers.
“We entrust this to our police officers and to our city officials… I was one of the victims of criminality… I am confident that the Talisay City police will resolve this case,” Daan said. With Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus