CASE BREAKTHROUGH Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos on Monday presents to reporters the two former policemen now considered suspects in the murder of Geneva Lopez and her Israeli fiancé Yitshak Cohen. — Screengrab from PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE
MANILA, Philippines — Police are now looking into the possible involvement of two ex-policemen — who reportedly killed beauty pageant candidate Geneva Lopez and her Israeli boyfriend, Yitshak Cohen — in a “mortgage scheme.”
PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Maj. Gen. Leo Francisco said they are now backtracking the activities of the two main suspects, Michael Angelo Guiang and Rommel Abuzo.
Guiang and Abuzo reportedly shot the couple over a land dispute.
READ: Land row cited in the killing of beauty pageant bet, BF allegedly by ex-cops
“Yan ay isa sa mga anggulo na aming tinitignan dahil sabi ko kanina, kami ay nagba-backtrack sa mga previous activity nitong dalawang pulis na ito – kung ito ay grupo or ito ay sila lang gumagawa ng ganitong aktibidad,” Francisco said in an interview over Radyo 630.
(That is one of the angles we are looking at because I said earlier, we are backtracking the previous activities of these two former policemen if they acted as a group, or is it just them doing this activity?)
Contrary to previous reports, the CIDG chief revealed in a press conference on Monday that Guiang mortgaged land to Lopez.
But Francisco said Guiang refused to give the land to Lopez. Instead, the former policeman invited her and Cohen “to meet a potential buyer” — Abuzo.
“They met in Barangay Armenia, and these two ex-policemen shot the lovers. So, you can see it’s a planned activity,” the CIDG chief revealed in Filipino.
“A day before they met, Guiang and Abuzo talked about how to deal with the couple. So, there was that plan to kill them,” Francisco reiterated.
However, a report from The Times of Israel, citing Cohen’s brother, said that the couple loaned money to the man whose mother was sick.
Instead of paying the debt, the report said the man invited the couple to meet and promised to give Cohen land in exchange for the money he borrowed.
Aside from Guiang and Abuzo, another suspect identified as Jeffrey Santos was also arrested for illegal possession of firearms.
Two other unnamed ‘persons of interest’ surrendered and gave their statements to the police.
Based on police reports, Guiang and Abuza were assigned to Angeles City police at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two were dismissed from service after they went absent without leave.
Five of the seven individuals involved in the case are already in police custody, while the two remain at large.
On July 6, PNP said its Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and Tarlac police recovered the remains of Lopez and Cohen within a quarry site in Barangay Sta. Lucia in Capas, Tarlac two weeks after they disappeared on June 21.