Biz partner eyed in Frenchman’s slay

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—Police have started a manhunt for a business partner of a French-Italian expatriate found dead with his Filipino wife and 4-year-old son in Narra town in Palawan province last month.

A source in the intelligence community in the province, who asked not to be identified for lack of authority to speak to reporters, told Inquirer that investigators have narrowed down the investigation to a business partner of Jean Marc Messina. The source, however, declined to identify the suspect, who is also based in Palawan, while lawmen are pursuing him.

The source said the killing may be related to a failed business transaction between the victim and his partner.

“He (Messina) was apparently double-crossed by his partner in a trucking business,” said the source.

The victim and his partner were reportedly engaged in the trucking business for a mining company operating in Quezon town.

Investigators said they had looked at other possible angles to establish the motive in Messina’s killing, including the foreigner’s brushes with illegal fishers on Batas Island in Taytay town, where he has a parcel of land.

 Business transaction

“We could not find any link to his supposed fight with illegal fishers in Taytay. We have narrowed down the investigation to his business transactions and we would like to get the suspect for questioning,” the source said.

Messina, his wife Jewel and their son Gio were abandoned by their killers inside their pickup truck, which was parked by the roadside in the southern town of Narra.

Residents there found the bodies, already in an advanced stage of decomposition, on Jan. 29, leading investigators to believe that they were killed at least three days before they were found. Redempto Anda, Inquirer Southern Luzon