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Sunday, January 15, 2006
Colleague of slain Japanese sought
By Rommel G. Rebollido
POLICE here said they would want the companion of slain Yasuaki Sawada investigated to shed light on the gruesome killing of the 25-year-old Japanese national.
City police director Senior Superintendent Alfredo Toroctocon told newsmen they would be working with police authorities in Malalag town, Davao del Sur, in probing the death of Sawada, a resident of Osaka, Japan.
Toroctocon said they want to question Ueda, who appeared to have hurriedly left the city, even after reporting to police authorities that Sawada was missing.
Ueda, which is about the same age of Sawada, took a flight to Manila on December 12 and has since returned to Japan.
Ueda and Sawada stayed at the East Asia Royal Hotel, allegedly with two other Japanese, who arrived with them on December 7. The other two left December 10 for Manila.
In the afternoon of December 11, Ueda and some hotel personnel allegedly went to the police precinct in Lagao, this city, to report that Sawada failed to return to his room after leaving Saturday night.
On December 20, it was found out that Sawada had long been an unclaimed corpse at a small funeral home in Padada town, Davao del Sur, even before as the police learned he was declared missing.
It took some concerned Padada residents to inform a local radio station about a cadaver with oriental features at a morgue in that town.
Avis cab driver Mario Bonggay, who had accompanied Sawada on several occasions, identified the corpse to be that of the missing Japanese.
Policemen in Malalag town of that province found the cadaver on December 11 hanging by a tree trunk on a ravine along a portion of Davao-General Santos highway in Barangay Tagansuli of that town.
Malalag policemen plucked out the man's cadaver at around 8 a.m. that day, some eight hours after Sawada was allegedly last seen leaving the East Asia Royal Hotel.
The remains, which were later identified to be that of Sawada, bore a gaping wound on the neck caused by a wire, apparently used to strangle the victim that was still stuck on the neck.
Meanwhile, City Councilor Boyet Leyson, chair of the city council's committee on peace and order and public safety, said the Japanese embassy must start probing on the possible involvement of some Japanese treasure hunters in the killing of Sawada.
Interviewed over local Radyo Bombo, Leyson said they were trying to verify reports that Sawada could have been killed after failing to pay debts used to finance a treasure hunt.
Leyson said the Japanese authorities must act swiftly on the matter since they also got information that another Japanese with a similar problem with that of Sawada is hiding in the city.
On another hand, some quarters have questioned the process by which the police have tried to locate the missing Japanese national, citing an apparent lack of coordination among the various police units in the area.
A source who asked anonymity said the incident must serve as a basis for police to review its procedures in locating a missing person, especially a foreigner.
He cited that Sawada's remains were recovered on December 11 by policemen in Malalag town, about an hour ride, from this city, yet, it took eight days for the police to learn that their colleagues in Malalag found a dead man that turned out to be Sawada.
Meanwhile, Toroctocon revealed that Aesushi Nishiyama, a Japanese consul based in Davao City, has confirmed the identity cadaver found in a funeral home in Padada as that of Sawada.
Toroctocon personally went to Davao Del Sur after receiving reports from the local police command in the area that the cadaver of a Japanese-looking "salvage" victim was found off a cliff in Sitio Tual, Barangay Tagansuli, Malalag town, Davao Del Sur.
Toroctocon said distinguishing marks--a mole in left buttock and two broken frontal teeth--provided Sawada's family in Japan confirmed that the slain victim was the missing Japanese national.
The city police chief said the Japanese consul, who also went personally to Funeraria Novis in Padada, Davao Del Sur, to check the identity of the cadaver, called up the family of the victim in Japan to ask for some distinguishing marks.
Toroctocon said the victim's companion, Ueda, should be invited for investigation to shed light where they went on the evening of December 10.
Ueda was the last man seen accompanying Sawada. (With reports from Aquiles Zonio)
(January 2, 2006 issue)
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