Talisay police nab suspect in whistle-blower’s slay

THE suspect in the gruesome killing of drug whistle-blower Bernard Liu late last month was arrested in a raid yesterday afternoon.

Police found a .38 revolver and two bullets in the house of Rhem Balquin alias Rembat in sitio Rattan, barangay Tangke, Talisay City.

Judge Enriquita Belarmino of RTC Branch 57 issued the search warrant for the police.

Supt. Eddie Recamara, acting Talisay City police chief, said they will verify if the firearm confiscated is the same gun that was reported stolen from Liu.

Liu was found dead at the back of his residence in barangay Tangke, Talisay City. The autopsy conducted revealed that he was strangled.

A rope was found tied around his neck when his decomposing body was uncovered outside the kitchen of his house.

The autopsy also revealed that his head sustained blunt force trauma caused by a hard object.

Soft tissues in his abdomen and some internal organs were missing.

Liu landed in the headlines a decade ago when he testified in a House inquiry on drugs against his former employers, brothers Peter and Wellington Lim.

But the police said Liu’s death is unrelated to his testimony as witness.

They suspect that Liu was killed during a burglary since a gold bracelet and a P50,000 metal urn containing his father’s ashes were missing.

The house was also in disarray when Liu’s remains were found. Correspondent Gabriel C. Bonjoc