ILOILO CITY - Police yesterday tagged an Iloilo businessman’s own two sons for his murder and that of his wife and young daughter.

In a two-page complaint filed before the Iloilo City Prosecutor’s Office, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Western Visayas filed two counts of murder and one count of parricide against Archie Tan, 23, and his brother John Michael, 18.

The brothers are the sons from a previous relationship of businessman Francisco “Bobby” Tan.

The businessman was found dead inside his bedroom at the two-storey family mansion in Molo District here at dawn on Monday. Also found dead was his wife, Cynthia Zayco-Tan, a Negrense, and their 6-year-old daughter Kathy.

All victims bore multiple stab wounds in the chest. The couple’s five other children and Francisco’s aunt, businesswoman Conchita Tan, were unhurt.

The brothers had earlier told investigators that they found the victims’ remains when they came home around 3 a.m. after sneaking out of their house for a night out.

But police said the evidence they gathered showed the brothers were in the house when the victims were killed and showed probable cause for the filing of the case.

“It was a well-planned, well-executed and premeditated criminal offense,” Supt. Renato Gumban, CIDG director for Western Visayas, said.

He said that the evidence gathered by a combined team of investigators from various police units and agencies “point to (the brothers) as the perpetrators.”

The evidence was also backed by testimonies of around 15 witnesses including the family’s security guard and household staff as well as crime laboratory results and the autopsy reports, Gumban said.

Gumban said Archie was driven to kill their father and step-mother because he wanted to take over the multi-million family business. He said John Michael acted as an accomplice.

The family owns the Crown Agro Chemical, a chain of stores selling pesticides, fertilizers, and other agricultural inputs.

“We’re very sure it was not (because of) robbery.” Based on testimonies of witnesses, Gumban said the brothers were “angry” at their father and stepmother.

Francisco Tan allegedly earned the ire of Archie because he forbade him from owning his own business, Gumban said.

Investigators believe Kathy who sleeps with her parents was killed because she could have identified the brothers.

Gumban said they are still gathering more evidence to determine whether there were others involved in the crime. The police will also request the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation to issue hold departure orders against the brothers.

The police investigation backed up the claim of the brothers that they sneaked out of the house by jumping over their residence’s concrete fence at about 12:45 a.m.

The boys said that they went to Calzada bar then to Camp Jefferson bar and to the Caltex Starmart convenience store before returning to their house around 3 a.m.

“We proved that they went out but our evidence showed they were present during the commission of the crime,” Gumban said in a telephone interview. He said the autopsy reports showed the victims were killed between 7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Lawyer Leonardo Jiz, the Tan family’s lawyer, said the brothers were “saddened” by the filing of the complaint against them.

“They could not believe that they wound be accused when they are the ones grieving over the death of their family members,” Jiz told the DAILY STAR in a telephone interview.

Jiz said the family, based on its own investigation, does not believe that the brothers are involved in the crime.

“Conchita Tan (who had raised Francisco when he was orphaned as young boy) loves Bobby as well as her grandsons,” Jiz said.

But Jiz said that the family matriarch “is willing to do everything to find the killers regardless of who they are.”

He said the family will continue to cooperate with the police and follow any order of the courts. The boys have also assured him that they will not leave the country and will face the charges.

The boys also want the investigation to continue despite the filing of complaint against them and that the police should not stop in looking for the killers.

Police were already eyeing an inside job during the early stage of the investigation.

Investigators found no signs of forcible entry in the house that is enclosed by a concrete fence and has a security guard. The family also owns several dogs.*NPB

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