MY friends from the police force are highly-confident this time that they have the goods against the three suspects now in jail in connection with the kidnapping and murder of Filipino-Chinese businessman Anson Que/Anson Tan and his driver Padillo.

I just hope and pray that the evidence they have gathered so far against the suspects will ensure the certainty of punishment, the certainty of conviction of the accused and their other cohorts and masterminds who remained at-large as of press time.

I’m writing this since confidence in the PNP’s ability to convict suspects remain a complex issue influenced by various factors. It should be noted that while our policemen are really trained to investigate crimes and gather evidence, the effectiveness of their efforts and ultimately the success of prosecution will vary depending on several aspects.

They include key factors such as the quality of the police work, the strength of the evidence, the integrity of the legal system and most importantly, the public perception of the country’s criminal justice system.

The huge progress made by the PNP Special Investigation Task Group created amid the Que-Padillo case comes in the heels of an embarrassing court defeat suffered by the Police Regional Office 10 which investigated the November 5, 2023 killing of radioman Juan ‘Johnny Walker’ Jumalon in Calamba, Misamis Occidental and came up with three suspects who were all jailed in connection with the murder case.

Fourteen months after their arrest however, the Misamis Occidental Rregional Trial Court Branch 36 cleared the three after ruling that police arrested the wrong suspects in the case. The court said that the prosecution failed to present evidence to prove the guilt beyond reasonable doubt of the three accused.

The court noted glaring mistakes committed by the police and the prosecution during the trial of the case and event took note of the testimony of one of the accused that he could not have participated in the killing of the broadcaster as he suffered a stroke in 2020 and was having difficulty moving the left part of his body.

The court also chided the authorities for arresting and presenting the wrong suspects, saying it smacked of grave injustice. “When a wrong person is brought to trial, it not only defeats the several purposes of our criminal justice system but rubs a grain of salt into the wounds sustained by the grieving family of the murdered victim,” it said while calling on the regional police force to exert all their efforts, time and money to look after the real killers and mastermind of the callous murder Jumalon and his family the justice they deserve.

Now back to the Que-Padillo kidnapping-slay case, credit should be given to PNP chief General Rommel Marbil and his men led by Lieutenant Gen. Edgar Okubo, Major Gen. Nick Torre, Brig. Gen. Fajardo, Brig. Gen. Kenneth Lucas and Colonel David Poklay of the Anti-Kidnapping Group for working overtime during the recent Holy Week to bring justice to the victims and their families.

What the PNP needs to do now is to unmask all the associates of David Tan Liao, the highly-influential Chinese national arrested in connection with the celebrated kidnapping-slay case.

I’m’ saying that this Chinese national is highly-influential since he not only managed to secure a License to Own and Possess Firearms that allowed him to buy seven licensed guns and secure other government documents including a Professional Driver’s License even though he is an alien, he also rubbed elbows with some of our prominent politicians and government officials during the past administration.

Gen. Marbil has ordered the revocation of Liao’s LTOFP and the confiscation of his firearms and an investigation on how he got his gun papers, PNP spokesperson Brigadier Gen. Jean Fajardo told me.

The accused is believed to be using rogue Filipinos as his henchmen each time he is sought by POGO operators in the past to exact vendetta on a number of targets, one of them believed to be Que.

The 48-year old David Tan Liao, who also uses the aliases ‘Xiao Chang Jiang/Yang/Jianmin/Michael Agad Yang in his business activities in the country, is the alleged owner of Long Xiang Travel Agency and Long Xiang Law Firm with offices at Severino Cruz Street in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

The suspect has been linked to at least five separate kidnapping-for-ransom cases in Metro Manila since 2022 and is long being sought by the police force. Brig. Gen. Fajardo however said that the suspect apparently remained scot-free since his victims were afraid to face him in court.

Brig. Gen. Fajardo said that the suspect has been linked to a number of kidnapping-for-ransom cases that victimized Chinese nationals in 2022, 2024 and this year. One of the incident which took place in Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa City on December 6, 2024 saw the abduction of a Chinese national and his Filipino driver who were killed in the same way Que and his driver Armanie Pabillo were slain: thru strangulation. The bodies of the two were also dumped in the exact area in Barangay Macabud in Rodriguez, Rizal where the bodies of Que and Pabillo were discovered.

The other incidents took place on November 22, 2022; February 3, 2024; August 31, 2024; February 28, 2025; and last March 29. In the Nov. 22, 2022 incident, Liao and nine others posed as ‘NBI agents’ to kidnap a target inside Ayala Alabang. On February 3, 2024, he was also identified as one of the men who abducted a Chinese restaurant owner. On August 31, 2024, he was also believed to be among the men who abducted an alleged finance officer of former Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo who was linked to a multi-billion POGO operation in the province.

The victim was reportedly raped and forced to sign blank deeds of sale and a promissory note for P10 million.

“This is not an ordinary kidnapping-for-ransom operation. The objective really is to kill Anson Que from the start,” she said. The official said that they have information that as early as last January, there was already a plot to abduct Que who even had a ‘face-to-face meeting’ with the suspected mastermind that month.

So far, the SITG has already gathered CCTV footages/pictures which bolsters their suspicion that the incident was not a ‘typical snatch-and-grab kidnapping case.’ The footages showed Pabillo showing no sign of duress when he drove his employer’s Lexus van with plate no. GUO 555 in an apartment in Villacor Village in Meucauayan City on the day of the kidnapping.

Other videos showed the Lexus passing at the NLEX Tambubong Exit around 3:37 p.m. of March 29 while being driven by a man later identified as one of the two Pinoy suspects, Richardo Austria David. The suspect entered the Uncle John’s convenience store where he bought wet wipes and plastic reportedly to erase his fingerprint marks and other signs inside the Lexus which he abandoned along Seminary Road in Barangay Toro, Q.C.

A search of the same apartment led in the recovery of a number of evidence including a bull cap worn by David when he drove the Lexus; an orange nylon rope, a duct tape and a colored nylon bag which matched the items used in covering the victims’ faces and dumping their bodies, a pair of black shoes belonging to Que and a pair of handcuffs said to have been used to restrain the victim.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Alfred P. Dalizon