Arrest warrant vs. Tan brothers out
The Regional Trial Court finally issued an arrest warrant against brothers Archie and Jan Michael Tan for the killing of their father, stepmother and half-sister last year.
In a five-page resolution dated April 23, Judge Globert Justalero, presiding judge of the RTC Branch 32, found probable cause for charging the brothers for two counts of murder and parricide in connection with the January 8, 2006 killing of businessman Francisco "Bobby" Tan, his wife Cynthia Marie Zayco-Tan and their 6-year-old daughter Katherine.
"Simply stated, the prosecution's evidence in support of the three information, as exhaustively and personally evaluated by the Court, establishes the existence of probable cause as the basis for this Court's issuance of a warrant of arrest," said Justalero in his order.
The court ordered law enforcers to arrest the brothers at their residence along M.H del Pilar St., in Molo District or anywhere they can be located in the country. No bail has been recommended.
The order resolved various motions filed by the accused asking the court to dismiss the charges against the brothers for the alleged failure of the prosecution to establish the existence of probable cause.
The Iloilo City Prosecutor's Office on Sept. 29, 2006 issued a resolution finding probable cause to file criminal charges against the brother for the killings.
The prosecutor's office gave credence to the results of separate investigations conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group that implicated the brothers in the killings.
The resolution said that the evidence presented showed that the brothers conspired to kill their parents because they bore grudges against their father and stepmother. Katherine, who slept in her parents' bedroom, was probably killed because she knew the identity of the killers, according to the resolution.
The public prosecutor's office also submitted an amended resolution on January 12, 2007.
Aside from filing various motions to dismiss the charges, lawyers of the accused filed a petition for review before the Department of Justice on October 6 last year. The DOJ dismissed the petition in a resolution on March 22.
In his order, Justalero gave weight to the findings of the prosecutor's finding the existence of probable cause against the brothers.
The victims were found dead with multiple stab wounds in the chest at the two-story family mansion in Molo District here at dawn on January 9 last year. Francisco was found dead on his bed in the master bedroom, Cynthia Marie in Archie's room, adjacent the master bedroom, while Kathy was found at the doorway of her parent's room.
Archie, then 20, and Jan Michael, then 18, are Francisco's sons from a previous relationship. The slain couple has five children aged 5 to 17 years old. The four are now staying with their mother's family in Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental.
The brothers have repeatedly denied the accusations. They had told investigators that they had sneaked out of the house by climbing the walls around 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 9 to go barhopping and discovered the victims' remains when they returned home around 3 a.m. on Jan. 10.
But in their resolution, the prosecutor's office said autopsy results showed that Katherine could have died between 10:35 p.m. and midnight, when the brothers were still in the house.
The resolution also cited testimonies of witnesses that Archie bore a grudge against his stepmother because she did not trust him and did not allow him to manage the family business in Oton town in Iloilo.
The family owns the Crown Agro Chemical, a chain of stores selling pesticides, fertilizers, and other agricultural inputs.
The brothers were allegedly disrespectful and had heated arguments with their parents especially with their stepmother because they were frequently admonished for "leaving the house at night without asking permission from their father, taking money from their parents or from other family members..." the resolution said citing the testimonies of the slain couples three children.
The resolution also noted that based on police investigation, Archie was seen hurriedly leaving their house instead of helping bring the bodies of the victims to the hospital. Jan Michael was also seen "unconcerned and resigned" as his brother.
"Such acts of filial indifference is concededly contrary to human nature, observation and experience and runs counter to the ordinary course of events," the resolution of the prosecutor's office had said.