MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday said they already have a “person of interest” (POI) in the killing of national athlete and Airman First Class Mervin Guarte, who was stabbed in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro on Tuesday morning.
“We already have a person of interest and based on our investigation he was not among those involved in the drinking session,” Calapan City Police Chief Lt. Col. Roden Fulache said in a radio interview, without naming the POI.
“We are still conducting an investigation as to the motive,” he said.
Fulache said the victim and the POI both grew up in the same barangay.
“We’re continuing with the conduct of the investigation, we’re trying to locate our POI,” he said.
Fulache said policemen went to the residence of the POI and other places where he might have gone but he was not around.
“He is no longer in his residence which is near the crime scene…We also went to other areas where he may have gone. He was not also in these areas. Our manhunt operation is continuing,” the police official said.
Fulache said the police would file criminal charges against the POI once investigators establish evidence behind the killing of Guarte.
Initial police investigation showed Guarte had no known enemy in the area, according to Fulache.
Guarte was sleeping on a couch in his friend’s house, village Councilor Dante Albo Abel, when the assailant stabbed him with a kitchen knife on the left side of his chest. Police said before the incident, the victim visited his uncle in the area and had a drinking session with other people in the compound.
Fulache said Guarte could not identify his attacker when policemen visited him in the hospital before he died.
A bladed weapon without a handle, which was believed to have been used by the assailant, was recovered from the crime scene.
Guarte won two gold medals in the 2019 Manila and 2023 Cambodia SEA Games for obstacle racing. He also got two silver medals in the 2011 Indonesia SEA Games for athletics.
Olympic boxing medalists Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Felix Marcial have expressed condolences and called for justice over the death of their fellow athlete. (PNA)