Probe 2 ex-boyfriends of Pastillas Girl’s slain ma, kin urges cops

Maria Theresa Hernandez. (Photo provided by the Caloocan City Police and Ms. Hernandez’s family.)

MANILA, Philippines — A relative of the slain mother of Showtime’s “Pastillas Girl” Angelica Jane Yap wants his auntie’s two former boyfriends and the partner of her ex-boyfriend probed, saying one of the three may be behind her murder.

“John,” who refused to be named for fear of retribution, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the killing might have something to do with the victim’s previous relationships.

On Sunday night, Maria Theresa Hernandez, 43, a barangay (village) councilor of Barangay 127 in Caloocan, was shot in the head by a still unidentified gunman using a handgun, in an eatery along Tagaytay street, at the corner of Cabatuan St. in Barrio Jose, Caloocan City.

Pastillas Girl Angelica Jane Yap says they will seek the help of the NBI in probing her mom’s murder. (Photo by Jodee Agoncillo, INQUIRER.)

SPO3 Eduardo Tribiana, a case investigator of the Caloocan Police Station investigation unit, said Hernandez went to an “ihaw-ihaw” stall after hearing mass at the nearby San Jose Parish with her daughter Camille Jean Yap around 9:30 p.m.

She was rushed immediately to the Chinese General Hospital where she was declared dead at 12:41 a.m. Monday.

“The police should invite for questioning her ex-boyfriends ‘Polo’ and a certain Alfamil Yap and his partner,” John said, alleging that the three had been sending Hernandez death threats.

Hernandez, he said, was not in good terms with Alfamil and Polo after she broke up with the two. Yap’s partner, he alleged, had also sent her a death threat because of the affair.

One of her former lovers allegedly told the victim: “If you won’t be mine, nobody else will benefit from you,”  John added.

Hernandez also received a death threat sent through a text message warning her that she would die before Christmas, her mother Corazon said. “She took it lightly as a joke, though,” she added.

The closed circuit television footage at Barangay 131 showed that the gunman immediately ran away but passed by again the crime scene going to Bonifacio St. after getting his motorcycle parked nearby.

Witnesses said the gunman donned  a ball cap and maong jacket. He stands around 5’4” and has a medium build.

“It’s hard to pinpoint any suspect without any evidence,”  said Angelica Yap who learned about her mom’s murder during a taping for ABS-CBN. She was outside her home at Barrio Jose, Caloocan City, when interviewed by the press on Monday.

Her family would seek the help of the National Bureau of Investigation, Yap added, encouraging more witnesses to help them.

A witness at the stall said the gunman who was eating at the eatery near the crime scene, identified himself as a member of the police’s intelligence unit targeting a drug pusher. The gunman even asked the witness if the bystanders would react and tell the police if they saw a killing, he said.

Upon seeing his target, the gunman then remarked, “Ang ganda naman pala ng papatayin ko (My target looks good),” and then suddenly shot the victim, the witness said.

Hernandez’s neighbors said they spotted a man with a gun checking out the victim’s house two weeks before the murder. The man identified himself as a policeman when questioned.

The police were still establishing the motive behind the killing of the victim, as of Monday, Tribiana said.

Recovered from the crime scene were a slug and one fired empty cartridge of a 9-mm caliber.  SFM