COPS EYE LAND DISPUTE AS MOTIVE IN THE KILLING OF PAMPANGA BEAUTY PAGEANT BET, ISRAELI BOYFRIEND

POLICE are looking at land dispute as possible motive in the slaying of Pampanga beauty pageant contestant Geneva Lopez and her Israeli boyfriend Yitzhak Cohen.

PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Maj. Gen. Leo Francisco said Lopez and Cohen were shot by former policemen Michael Guiang and Rommel Abuzo inside their sports utility vehicle, which was later found burning on a road in Capas, Tarlac last June 22.

Francisco said a dispute over a piece of land owned by Guiang, which he mortgaged to Lopez, could be the motive for the killings.

Guiang allegedly wanted to take back the land he pawned to the couple.

Guiang and Abuzo, both with the rank of Patrolman when they were fired from the police force for going on AWOL (Absence Without Official Leave) in 2020 and 2019 respectively, and a companion, were presented to media in a press conference on Monday at the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said the two former policemen were arrested on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives and yet to be charged in connection with the couple’s killing.

The recovered guns have been subjected to a ballistics and cross-matching examination by the police to see if they were the ones used to kill the couple.

The two ex-policemen and a civilian identified as Jeffrey Santos are still undergoing questioning by the PNP-CIDG as of press time.

Abalos said that some witnesses and pieces of evidence that would  link the suspects to the double murder case have been gathered by the PNP.

He added that a witness, who was bothered by his conscience, led the police force to the exact site where the bodies of the victims were found.

Abalos said that the three, along with two “persons of interest” he identified only as “Junjun” and “Tonton,” and  two other John Does,are being investigated over the Lopez-Cohen case.

The two former policemen, with their faces covered, were presented to the press by Abalos and Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil. 

The discovery of the victims’ bodies came as a total of P1.4 million in reward money was raised for any information that would lead to the whereabouts of the couple.