Metrobriefs

Couple killed in Pasig

A couple were gunned down shortly before noon Tuesday at the parking lot of a restaurant in Pasig City as they were about to get down from their sport utility vehicle. Senior Superintendent Alfredo Calama-an, Pasig police officer in charge, identified the victims as Bienvenido and Nelia Tan, residents of Barangay Bagong Ilog in Pasig City. Both were in their 40s, he said. Initial investigation showed that the two were about to park at the Barrio Fiesta restaurant on Marcos Highway when a man approached them and shot them at close range. The police have ruled out robbery since the gunman did not take anything from the victims. “It could be business-related. But we are still probing what type of business the two were in,” Calama-an said. Niña Calleja

Woman drinks cyanide

A janitress died in the hospital on Monday night, several hours after she drank cyanide inside the room of a state prosecutor at the Department of Justice (DOJ) office in Ermita, Manila. Arlyn Aviles, 38, was found lying on the floor in the office of State Prosecutor Caridad Junio on Monday afternoon. She was taken to a hospital where she passed away at 7:25 p.m. In a note, she blamed a man she referred to as “Kuya” (brother) for her financial woes and warned that she would not let him rest. Jeannette I. Andrade

Headaches drove man to kill self

A 65-year-old man shot and killed himself early Tuesday at his Manila residence after weeks of suffering from severe headaches, the cause of which doctors could not trace. Elpidio Rodriguez of Herrera Street, Barrio Obrero in Tondo, was declared dead on arrival at Chinese General Hospital from a bullet wound in the temple. Inspector Ismael de la Cruz, deputy chief of the Manila Police District homicide section, said Rodriguez, a diabetic, had been constantly complaining of terrible headaches to his wife Maritess and his sister Lolita. “But whenever they brought him to the doctor, the doctor didn’t find anything that could explain the headaches,” the officer said. Rodriguez’s relatives observed that, prior to the suicide, he got depressed and frustrated with the doctors’ failure to come up with a diagnosis. Jeannette I. Andrade