MONEY reportedly led a 30-year-old Filipina to conspire with her ex-lover to injure her 72-year-old Japanese-American husband, who eventually died in a subdivision in Barangay Yati, Liloan in northern Cebu.
The National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI 7) arrested Roxan Mandokita Sugawara, the victim's wife, and her former live-in partner Gammy Tinaghanao Binungkasan, 32, who both confessed to the crime.
The NBI withheld the victim's name following a request from his family not to identify him in reports.
Based on the autopsy report, the victim died of air suffocation and a severe injury to the head. The Japanese-American sustained choke marks and wounds on his head and hands.
Arnel Pura, NBI Cebu District Office (Cebdo) agent-in-charge, said in a press conference on Monday, December 11, 2023, that Roxan admitted to planning to paralyze her husband after a heated argument they had on November 22.
Pura said the wife disclosed initially executing her plan herself but failed to do so when she felt pity toward her husband.
She instead contacted her former live-in partner to come to Cebu from Cagayan De Oro and execute the plan on her behalf inside their residence, but the latter ended up killing her husband on November 25.
To cover up for the crime, the Filipina said she let her ex-lover bring some of their things before leaving the scene and reported the incident to the Liloan police to appear that she and her husband were robbed.
Roxan, however, could not sleep, saying she was bothered by her guilt, leading to her confession.
The police then coordinated with the NBI and arrested Roxan on December 6.
Pura said they then conducted a hot pursuit operation and arrested Roxan s former lover at a construction site where he was working as a construction worker in Upper Balulang, Cagayan de Oro City on December 8.
In an interview with the media on Monday, December 11, the wife said she started growing grudges against her husband when the latter promised her cash of up to P100,000, which she never received.
She said her anger got worse when the victim rejected her offer to get his pension money.
"Daghan kayo syag gipasalig sa akoa. Mutabang daw sya's akung pamilya. Tagaan ko niya'g P3.6 million nga balay dayon mag share account mi, pero wala'y ni usa natinuod. Maong nalain ko, nakahunahuna ko piangan sya," she said.
(He promised me a lot. He said he will help my family. He would give me a P3.6 million worth of house. And then he said he would share an account with me, but none of those came true. That's why I thought that I would make him lame.)
She said she met the foreigner on social media in April 2023. They got married in October.
Binungkasan, for his part, confirmed his ex-live-in partner's plan, but he said he could not explain what he felt the day of the incident that led him to kill her husband.
"Oh, among sabot piangan lang pero naglain naman akung buot atong gipaundang nakong Roxan og dapat sa iyang bana. Mao to mibalik ko sa kwarto nga wala sya kahibaw. Gihapak nako ang ulo sa Amerkano og botilya, unya gisiko nako sya," he said.
(Yes, we agreed to paralyze him, but I cannot explain what I felt when Roxan told me to stop hurting her husband. That's why I went back to the room without her knowing. I hit the American on the head with a bottle, and then I elbowed him.)
Roxan and Binungkasan were live-in partners for almost 10 years, with three children, but she said she broke up with her live-in partner because of his "toxic traits."
Pura said they are still coordinating with the Liloan police to gather more pieces of evidence for the case.
The two suspects remain in the custody of the NBI Cebdo in Barangay Centro, Mandaue City.
Pura said Roxan would face charges for parricide, while Binungkasan will be charged with murder. (HIC)