There are still no strong pieces of evidence to establish that the son of Anson Que was involved in the controversial kidnap-slay of the businessman and his driver, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Wednesday, April 30.

While PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said that Que’s son is one of the respondents, she emphasized that there are still no corroborative pieces of evidence to establish that he indeed orchestrated the kidnap-slay case.

Reports of the alleged involvement of Que’s son was based on the statement of David Tan Liao, one of the alleged key players in the kidnap-slay who is now under police custody after his arrest following the apprehension of two suspects recently.

“We have to make it clear that we do not believe in all the statements given by David Tan Liao. The primary reason why he (Que’s son) was included as one of the respondents is because of the assertion of David Tan Liao in his extrajudicial confession when he surrendered before the AKG (Anti-Kidnapping Group),” said Fajardo.

Other than Liao’s claim, Fajardo said the former could not present any solid piece of evidence that would link Que’s son to the incident.

“That is why the AKG, particularly the SITG (Special Investigation Task Group) is being cautious in accepting the hook, line and sinker the revelation, at least the allegation of David Tan Liao because we want to make sure that his should be backed up by other pieces of evidence,” she said.

Que and his driver Armanie Pabillo were last seen leaving the businessman’s office on March 29.

Their cadavers were later recovered in Rizal and the police said this was despite the family paying P200 million in cryptocurrency.

What the…

The claim of the involvement of Que’s son to his father’s kidnap-slay did not sit well with the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order who cautioned the PNP about believing the statement of what it described as a “notorious criminal” as a sole source of evidence.

“We call the attention of the PNP and express our outrage at your release of the extra-judicial confession of David Tan Liao… Where is the investigation that corroborates Liao's claim? Are there other people who affirm this single statement? Where is the physical and/or digital evidence that supports the claim that the son is involved?” the MRPO statement signed by founding person Teresita Ang-See read.

In the statement, Ang-See warned the AKG investigators about believing the statement of Tan Liao.

She also disputed the claim of the PNP that the case was already solved or that justice was already served.

“This just cements the fact that the PNP has failed to do their case build-up before releasing information. We urge the Philippine National Police to take this opportunity to demonstrate integrity and diligence in their investigative work—the people's trust must be earned through actions, not assertions,” he added.

The PNP, however, said it gets the message of the MRPO.

“We cannot discount the possibility that David Tan Liao is misleading the investigation to cover up for someone. We cannot set that aside,” said Fajardo.

“And we cannot also set aside the statement that there is also a possibility that David Tan Liao is the mastermind because considering his involvement in previous killings… and there is also a possibility that their group is operating with the scheme of things under David Tan Liao,” she added.

Cooperating

The MRPO said Que's son has been cooperating with the PNP investigators—a claim that was corroborated by Fajardo.

“He (Que’s son) is cooperating with the AKG and in fact he voluntarily submitted his cellphone that was used in the negotiations with the kidnappers,” said Fajardo, adding that the cellular phone is now being subjected to forensic examination.

It was Que’s son who negotiated with the kidnappers and the former volunteered to provide the content of the exchange of text messages between him and the kidnapmen.

Money trail

In the same statement, the MRPO suggested focusing on the money trail and Fajardo said this is exactly what the PNP investigators are doing.

In fact, she said they visited some casino junket operators that are being linked to the flow of the ransom payment before the P200 million payment was converted into cryptocurrency.

Part of the visit with the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) was a discussion with the junket operators on how the flow of money in casino junket operation works.

“This is because based on our initial investigation, the initial ransom and the succeeding ransom money were sent to junket operators until in the end, it was converted into cryptocurrency,” said Fajardo.

As a result of this probe, Fajardo said two Chinese were invited for questioning since they are allegedly among the recipients of the ransom money.

“They were also impleaded in this case and we made a referral to the Bureau of Immigration and they issued a mission order and they were subjected to inquest for undesirability. So the BI already has legal custody with respect to these two foreign nationals,” said Fajardo.