This is the story on the Amanpulo murder investigation that I filed for the Inquirer yesterday but never saw print. This was supposed to be a scoop. Interestingly, no national media outlet has come up with the story as of this posting, although I heard that ABS-CBN is sending a TV news crew.
(update: after two days of waiting, i rewrote and refiled this story and it came out finally 4/12/2008. here’s the link - RDA)
By Redempto Anda,
For the Inquirer Southern Luzon Bureau
One of the country’s most exclusive and high prized luxury island resorts, the Amanpulo, has found itself in the middle of a murder investigation following the release last Saturday of subpoenas against its manager, a foreign national, and several others for the mysterious death of a construction worker early this year.
Government prosecutors have filed murder and obstruction of justice charges against the resort’s general manager, Miguel Guedes de Sousa and five others including Eastern Police Superintendent Manuel Aranas.
Apart from De Sousa and Aranas, also charged were: Engr. Santi Geronimo, Engr. Simplicio Sambrano, Robert Hauchian, Capt. Mike Syjuco (company pilot), Choi de Leon, Sonny Rodriguez and Cesar Padilla (resort’s chief of security).
Amanpulo resort, located in Pamalican Island off Cuyo, Palawan 360 kilometers South of Manila in the Sulu Sea is one of the country’s most expensive island resorts that had included Holywood stars and famous personalities among its guests
Senior Inspector Necerato Guardiano Sabando Jr., the police chief of Cuyo, claimed in an exclusive interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer that resort officials had deliberately tried to prevent them from investigating the death of Rodolfo Abamo, 41, a steel worker hired by a contractor for the resort, last January 2.
Sabando claimed that the management of the resort had the victim airlifted to Manila without coordinating with local police investigators and without seeking proper health certification, and preempted plans of their scene of the crime (SOCO) operatives from conducting a spot investigation.
Cuyo police investigators Nereo Cablao Gallardo and Pedro Magbanua who conducted an inspection of the resort and interviewed its personnel claimed Abamo may have been a victim of foul play.
“We had received earlier notice from their own medical people to look into the possibility of a foul play. We told them not to move the body. But without our knowledge and without seeking proper health certification, they airlifted the cadaver to Metro Manila,” Sabando said in Filipino.
A resort official however claimed that the airlifting of the body was made with the permission of the Cuyo municipality and that it had to be done because the body was already in the early stage of decomposition.
Sabando also expressed surprise why the body was brought to the Marikina police.
“It was not in their jurisdiction and the victim was not even a resident there as he was from Baler, Quezon,” Sabando said.
Apart from murder, charges of obstruction of justice and illegal disposal of a dead person (PD 856) were filed by the Cuyo police against the suspects, including Eastern Police District Police Chief Medico Legal Examiner Manuel Aranas who ordered a post mortem on the victim in Marikina where the deceased was brought.
Resort officials, in a text message, claimed that the victim had died of natural causes, based on Aranas’ autopsy.
The resort, however, declined to comment further on the case. An Amanpulo official who asked not to be named explained that the construction company that they had engaged, 7 Seas Villa Development, had entered into a legal undertaking with them exempting the luxury resort management from any liability arising from such an incident.
Melquades Castillo, president of 7 Excel Company that had supervision over the victim said he was surprised about the filing of the case, stating that they had already settled the matter with the family of the victim.
Meanwhile, the provincial prosecutor’s office endorsed the petition of the Cuyo police to issue a hold departure order against Miguel Guedes de Sousa.
“We endorsed the issuance of the hold departure order because of the gravity of the case. He is tagged as an accessory to murder and the case warrants such action,” Palawan’s chief provincial prosecutor Allen Ross Rodriguez told PDI.
April 12, 2008 at 1:37 am
This is so sad.
April 12, 2008 at 10:27 am
This is obviously a bogus claim meant to squeeze money from the resort and the contractor. If the autopsy states that the person died of natural causes, no other amount of evidence will change that. The strongest evidence is the body itself regardless whether the crime scene is tainted or not. If the body of the victim shows signs of foul play, then the crime scene is of importance. If the the autopsy report tells us that the victim died of natural causes, what significance will the crime scene have? Ex. Heart attack victim who died alone in his room— If the autopsy report states this, do we need to see whether the crime scene shows foul play? Sinasabi na nga sa report na natural causes ang pagkamatay eh hahanap at hahanap pa ng paraan para mamera. AYOS!!! No wonder no legitimate news agency wants to carry the news.
April 16, 2008 at 8:30 pm
No wonder Lee Kuan Yew said that press ‘freedom’ in this country is one of the things that’s keeping this country from progressing.
The news article is simply sensationalism and is founded on very flimsy bits of info. Either that or the author of the article is simply sloppy.
This is very irresponsible journalism.
I feel sorry for this country. There’s so much potential but some (if not many) sectors of the country are simply screwing it up.
April 17, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Greetings from Cebu …
Yes, this is sad. Sad because journalism in the Philippines apparently is not that professional.
I definitely agree with the last two posters above. But somebody needs to translate the Tagalog portion of one of the comments.
Hope that innocent parties (the General Manager of that resort obviously) will finally be given some letup soon, by the press that is.
April 17, 2008 at 3:30 pm
i just don’t know what they mean by “journalism in the Philippines apparently is not that professional.”… how would you define a balance reporting?
unless there is a given perception before someone start to read the news, there is no balance reporting.
April 17, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Stories like this is BAD for tourism and the country, given the millions of people relying on the industry for their livelihood. Sensationalizing it -does sell papers but in the extreme sense, it robs people of food to put on the table
April 18, 2008 at 1:24 am
There are a lot of questions to be answeres by amnpulo management and unless this is cleared, there will never be justice to the construction worker. The 2 investigators from Cuyo reported that there seems to be foul play… so let the authorities finish their investigation. Where is De Sousa now? latest unverified report is that HE was airlifted and out of the country, by a private plane owned by the aboitiz who happens to be a board member of seven seas reosrt an leisure-the company that owns Pamalican island-amnpulo. This Portugues is making a mockery of our Judicial system. He authorized the airlifting of the cadaver and now that it is being question, he disappears!! When should we learn to respect our laws? Aman resorts of Singapore should bring DE Sousa to justice!!
April 18, 2008 at 2:09 am
There is no formal report yet on the real cause of death of the construction worker. But the fact remains that there is a violation of the Phil. Laws regarding the airlifting of the cadaver, the non-approval of the proper authorities and the absence of documents that is required. If amanpulo has nothing to hide, then let the investigation prosper AND THE TRUTH TO COME OUT!! If we want tourism to prosper in this country, let us first follow the law. In Singapore, laws are strickly followed and if this kind of incident happened in Singapore, De Sousa will definitely land in Jail and so with all those high and mighty that tried to cover up this incident. DR. Gumabon-the resident Doctor of amanpulo already reported that THERE IS FOUL PLAY…….So
April 18, 2008 at 10:46 am
The Law MUST be followed and the truth MUST be known- no compromises and cover ups tolerated, to give justice to the victim. HOWEVER, we could do away with the Telenovela-like Sensationalization of reporting. Collateral damage may (and does), oftentimes, even offset the search for justice.
April 19, 2008 at 7:08 pm
THIS MURDER IS NOT BEING SENSATIONALIZED……. THERE IS A COVER UP GOING ON!!!
Come to think of it, it happened January, 2008 and it only came out of the media April, 2008. Only a few were charged while if it is going to be based on responsibilty and accountability, almost all department Managers at Amanpulo and key official of seven seas resort & leisure should have been charged. The role of seven seas personnel stationed at A. Soriano Hangar, Pasay City should be thouroughly scrutinize-they have direct knowledge of ALL INCOMING AND OUT GOING PERSONNEL AND MATERIALS AT AMANPULO, CADAVERS INCLUDED!!
With De Sousa out of the country with the help of an aboitiz private airplane and news black out going on……..we can safely conclude that the high and the mighty has triumph again.
FOR THOSE GOING TO ANY AMAN RESORT, BE N EMPLOYEE OR A GUEST, BEWARE because just in case anything happens to you, your death may never be known
April 19, 2008 at 11:09 pm
@cecille
I was told by the provincial fiscal that they have withdrawn the motion for the issuance of an HDO against mr de sousa on the promise of his lawyers to present him to court when it is needed. It would be interesting to see if this happens.
April 20, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I would definitely agree that it would be interesting to see if the lawyers of DE Sousa will present De Sousa to court when it is needed!!
Let the moro-moro begin
April 21, 2008 at 9:54 am
Good Luck!
April 21, 2008 at 9:14 pm
There is no such thing as good luck in Philippine jurisprudence honey!! Money talks and amanpulo has lots of it.
A piece of advice, don’t you ever try to go to amanpulo otherwise you’l end up at mrikina morgue!
April 27, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Good thing the news seemed to have fizzled out
April 27, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Cecille are you the one behind this bogus case? You seem to know a lot of stories not mentioned in the article. If you are, let me give you my own insights/ opinion:
1. Read the title again! “Murder Probe in Amanpulo”, which simply calls for attention to generate buzz. Why not put the heading as ” A Possible Wrongful Death Probe” or even “A Possible Murder Case Probe”? Do you want justice at the expense of those being implicated through sensationalized journalism? Watch TV Patrol and count the number of times the word “PATAY” is mentioned. After watching TV Patrol, watch The World Tonight from the same channel and you will see the big difference. The Station change the stories simply because they are after the rating and not the truth. Rating brings in more commercials which means more money to feed the media outfit’s greed. Now, please tell me that we are after the truth here. The sad part is all of us suffer from irresposible journalism.
2. Going back to the case, review past jurisprudence such as the death of the late actor Rico Yan in a resort in Palawan. His family used the autopsy report to prove or disprove any foul play in his death. After the autopsy report confirmed that his death was of natural causes, the authorities did not even bother with the crime scene. Why? Because there was no crime scene to investigate. This is likewise true for the amanpulo death. No sign of foul play was discovered from the body of the worker according to the autopsy report.
I am for the poor man who died but the media or who ever is behind this case should not see this as a possible way to gain popularity through news buzz or source of under the table pay offs. This is destroying the image of our country and at the end, we all end up as losers.
3. How come I dont see the family of the victim crying for justice? Don’t you think they should be the first to complain or seek justice? A GREAT IRONY IN A NEWS STORY MEANT TO JUST CREATE BUZZ!
April 28, 2008 at 10:28 am
@Avin: You seem so engrossed with this story and you obviously know more than I do. You even sound like someone I have talked to. Anyway, let me take you up on a couple of points. You insist that the death of the worker was of a natural cause. That’s what the resort has been insisting from day 1 when I sought them out for comments. But note that even the Eastern police which the resort asked to do the autopsy denies that they concluded it was a natural cause. You talk about sensational reporting and you split hairs on how the story headline should be written. You even impute ill motive on me as the writer of the story that I am just for popularity. Don’t worry I’m not taking the offense as that only made me smile. If you are from the resort or know anyone there, try to find out how much they have done to try and kill this story, and why? About the family of the victim, you assume that they are not crying for justice. Are you sure about that? Have you talked to them? I did and I know where they stand. Finally, I wish you will appreciate that the media did not create this story. The resort did. Anyway, I want you to know that I appreciate your comments as well as everyone’s. I seldom engage my posters here directly but this one I just couldn’t resist. Thanks for following my blog. I should have a follow up story on the filing of the case soon. Hope you don’t think its just for popularity points. This is a legit story, believe you me
April 28, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I hope that the family of the victim benefit (at least) financially from the pulblicity this has generated and newspapers that have been sold. I presume that the “concerned” parties in this blog have made sure of that as well?–NOT!!!
April 28, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I also don’t think that the NET effect of this “CRUSADE” for justice benefits the Filipinos (and a number of signiifcant others) who rely on tourism for their daily subsistence.
April 28, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I know for sure it won’t be getting a pulitzer
April 28, 2008 at 2:47 pm
while we were exchanging our views, I’m sure aman resorts of Singapore, seven seas & leisure, and amanpulo are having laugh of thier life.
DE SOUSA IS GONE and all his belongings in amanpulo will just be air frieghted to him thru the kindness of his “cover up team”
If I were the family of that construction worker who died at amanpulo, I will seek the advice of Ka Roger of the Melito Gor Command-Baler, Quezon and Palawan is his area of responsibility. And if this is the only way that justice should be served-so be it. Alvin@ I dont think you understand what you are saying-its the talk of the town and what I said was taken from the employees themselves. I suggest you go to Cuyo because that’s the nearest that you can go near Pamalican. There, you can talk to employees of amanpulo and find out the real stoy. The net effect of our crusade will definetly benefit the Filipinos in general while the net effect of the COVER UP will only benefit a few in disguise of protecting the tourism industry in this country!!!!
April 29, 2008 at 12:06 am
Dempto I truly appreciate your positive stance on what I have posted in your blog. I have registered my email address as I post my comments and you can do a check of my background using my last name as indicated in my email address. This way, you can see for yourself if I am in any way connected with the resort. My interest in this story is merely based on the fact that many foreign tourist, including big HOLLYWOOD STARS have been patronizing this beautiful island. Imagine the domino effect of the world knowing that stars like Harison Ford, Mariah Carey or Brad Pitt have all been in this area. Don’t you think that this “may” have some good effect on our country as a whole? Take now your story wherein you strongly imply MURDER as the real cause of death. Imagine the resounding effect of that in the international community. Imagine the number of foreign embassies who have now issued travel advisories to their citizens alerting them of danger traveling to our country. Now, let us assume for a minute that the death of the worker is of natural causes though you say that this is not the final proclamation of the police. Do you see the amount of damage done by your article? Can you tell us, ordinary Filipinos, that you have a plan to remedy this if in case the whole Murder Plot ends up to be completely wrong?
I once had a green card which I decided to give up because of my love for this country. I recently went on a three month vacation to the US and everyday I was exposed to watching TV Patrol through the TFC Channel. Because of exagerated journalism, I truly felt that the Philippines is a very unsafe place though for 32 years of my life I have never felt unsafe in my own country. Why? Because of the picture media paints. Go to Mindanao and ask the people in Davao what they think of the media. They will tell you how much they hate them. Can you blame them? Up to now they suffer the effects of how the media generalized the entire Mindanao as a war zone though conflicts there are literally isolated in remote areas such as Sulu and Basilan. Headlines reading as ” turmoil in Mindanao…/ Bombing in Mindanao…” etc have damaged them beyond repair. It is even safer to walk the streets of Davao at night than in Metro Manila. This is just an example of the huge impact of media on a society like our own.
Our laws prohibit foreigners from taking a stake on media companies for the reason that our forefathers believed that the press has the power to shape the beliefs, culture and mindset of people. Media is the only sector in business with such prohibition. That is how powerful you are. If we, ordinary Filipinos, will not put a check and balance on the work that you do, i really do not know where our country is heading. This is why I am questioning your article especially the headline.
May 4, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Alvin makes a lot of sense.
As to why journalists like Anda pens sensationalized articles, I think it is because there are several factors at play here –
1. the Phil. Daily Inquirer which Anda writes for is really a tabloid masquerading as a broadsheet;
2. as such tabloid, it will readily pick up thinly substantiated allegations, all for the objective of gaining readership;
3. now unfortunately a lot of readers will readily go for stories about sex, violence, intrigue, and conspiracy theories;
4. and so tabloids and newspapers like the Inquirer will keep on publishing stories about such topics (who cares if it’s true or not? and who cares what sort of damage has been wreaked in the process?);
5. and so people like de Suza, the resort, and even the family of the deceased will just be but pawns in the furtherance of the reporter’s personal advancement in that ecosystem, the newspaper’s greater readership, etc.
It’s true that a journalist and the media wield a lot of power. And we know how power can be used often for self-aggrandizement and personal enrichment.
Let’s just hope Anda is not one of those AC/DC (attack and collect/ defend and collect) reporters.
On the larger topic of AC/DC reporting, envelopmental journalism, and other corrupt forms of journalism, surely these must be prevalent in the country.
And can those be the reason why the Philippines would also have the highest rate of murder of journalists in the world?
It’s either that, or alternatively, the Phils. must have one of the most lousy journalists + the most ‘pikon’ subjects of exposes (sloppy writers which articles raise the ire of the offended persons that drive them to kill the pesky reporters!).
Anyway, the last paragraphs are not meant to lump Anda with those corrupt reporters (we don’t know either way what kind of reporter he is).
But what we know so far is clear, in that Anda will continue to sensationalize stories and is irresponsible.
It looks though that Anda can rise above the (low) level of journalism that the Inquirer espouses, and so let’s just hope that he matures to be a good reporter someday.
May 4, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I just have this to say folks, matter of fact. The victim’s wife was finally offered a settlement and has accepted it in exchange for a waiver. As to Mr. de Sousa, depending on where one sits, his disappearance can be interpreted both ways - he’s been wronged and had to leave justifiably, or he’s shown how to flaunt the law.
May 5, 2008 at 8:47 am
@Rico, thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt about not being an AC-DC journalist. Since you are either an insider or know the resort, you can check with them since they know where all the actors in this story stand. As to preferences of newspapers, to each his own. The Inquirer isn’t perfect but it goes better with my coffee than the Star or Bulletin.
May 6, 2008 at 6:21 pm
OK folks, nobody wins in this arguements. The fact remains that 1. Someone died in amanpulo and no official report has ever come out. 2. The man in charge of the resort was flown out of the country using Aboitiz private airplane in Cebu. 3. Dr. Gumabon-Resident Doctor of the resort already reported foul play and these triggered off Cuyo police investigation and Andas article. Dr. Gumabon is a very credible person, one of the remaining few in the resort.
If there is no foul play and the construction worker died a natural death, then make the official report. all the actuations of the resort and the Seven Seas resort only points to one thing-they are covering up something, making a mockery of the Philipine Laws, and still trying very hard to come out clean!!
Yes, it is true that there were some Hollywood personalities that went there but their names don’t appear in the official flight manifest-AGAIN A VIOLATION OF THE PHIL. LAWS
So why is amanpulo so attractive to the rich and famous? One security guard had this to say; ” in Amanpulo, you can do whatever you want. One can bring in drugs and prostitutes and even law makers are seen with thier concubines. Amanpulo GM’s will always look the other way around.
Let us not deviate from the main issue and that is KNOWING THE TRUTH AND IMPLEMENTING THE PHIL. LAW
The latest in amanpulo was written today by Mr. Beltran-a columnist of THE STAR. You think this is tabloid too?????
August 14, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Lovely post. Please add my email address to your list and email me the updates if possible. I always like to read your blog and comment on it.