“They have psychopathic criminal tendencies because they have no conscience.”
That was how Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla described the couple accused of murdering Police Senior Master Sgt. Diane Mollenido and her eight-year-old son, John Ysmael—killings carried out in the presence of the suspects’ three young children, followed by the chilling disposal of the victims’ bodies with those minors still in tow.
According to Remulla, the Panganiban couple’s three children—aged 6, 8, and 10—were inside their house in Quezon City when the husband shot Mollenido as she sat on the sofa on the night of Jan. 16.
Early the following morning, Mollenido’s eight-year-old son was suffocated to death in a room adjacent to where the suspects’ children were staying.
The worst part, Remulla said, was that the couple brought their three minor children along when they disposed of Mollenido’s body in Bulacan and that of John Ysmael in Tarlac.
He added that they all boarded a Toyota Fortuner with the wrapped cadavers of Mollenido and her son placed at the back of the vehicle.
“This is actually hard to believe. How can the parents do all these things in the presence of their children,” said Remulla in a press briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
He said the suspects told their children that they would go to Baguio City but instead, they went to a budget hotel in Quezon City and later in Calamba, Laguna with the cadavers at the back of the car.
HOW IT STARTED
In December last year, Metro Manila police chief Maj. Gen. Anthony A. Aberin said Mollenido gave P550,000 to the couple for the purchase of a second hand Mitsubishi Montero.
The amount was actually a down payment since Mollenido also sold her Toyota Innova for P450,000 to complete the payment for her dream SUV, according to Aberin.
It was also the couple who took charge in looking for the buyer of Mollenido’s Toyota Innova.
“The Mitsubishi Montero that she was supposed to buy is non-existent,” said Aberin in the same press briefing.
Based on the investigation, the fear that Mollenido would finally find out that she was scammed was what motivated the couple to plan her murder.
Police said Mollenido’s trust and confidence to the couple is reasonable since she is one of their wedding sponsors.
Unknown to Mollenido, the two are already facing multiple cases that include estafa.
After the male Panganiban shot Mollenido to death, Police Col. Glenn Silvio, director of the Quezon City Police District, said that his plan was to drop and abandon John Ysmael somewhere in Taguig.
During the planning stage of the couple, Mollenido’s son appeared to be out of the equation as they did not expect that the boy would be her mother.
But Silvio, citing the result of the investigation, said that it was the wife who allegedly insisted that the boy be killed as he was a witness to the death of her mother and that he already saw their faces.
With the arrest of the couple and two others, Remulla said the case is already closed.
“This case is considered closed and charges will be filed,” said Remulla. (Aaron Recuenco)
