Assassinated Businessmen

Even without the pandemic business has alway been tough in the Philippines. Why is that? Because if you are a businessman in the Philippines any rival you have will gladly assassinate you. The problem of assassination is not limited to politicians. Let's take a look at a few recent assassinated businessmen. These  are killings which have happened since the beginning of 2023. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1197351

Two gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead a businesswoman and wounded her husband in an ambush in Barangay Fatima, Gen. Santos City early Tuesday.

In a report, Col. Jomar Alexis Yap, General Santos City police director, identified the victim as Amelia Tajala, of Barangay Fatima, Gen. Santos City.

Tajala was declared dead at the GenSan Medical Center while her husband Belgar, who was driving the Mitsubishi Montero (MFN-927), was critically injured.

The victims were heading to the city fish port area at about 4:45 a.m. where they are managing a fish and money lending business when waylaid by the gunmen, who sped off in an unknown direction.

Police found 16 empty shells for a .45-caliber pistol at the crime scene.

They said they have yet to establish the motive and identities of the perpetrators.

https://digicastnegros.com/businessman-killed-3-others-found-dead/

A businessman was killed and three others were found dead in Negros Occidental, the police reported Wednesday, March 1.

Businessman Ronnie Galve Pabilona, 47, was killed at Brgy.4 Poblacion, Himamaylan City, 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, February 28.

Pabilona was eating lunch at his store when a male person entered and ordered lunch. The person went out of the store, and returned a few minutes later and suddenly shot Pabilona on the back of his head using a .45 caliber pistol, the police said.

The victim was brought to the Governor Valeriano M. Gatuslao Memorial Hospital but was declared dead on arrival, the police added.

The suspect escaped.

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1954495/zamboanga/local-news/businessman-killed-6-unharmed-in-drive-by-gun-attack

A BUSINESSMAN who once served as executive assistant to the late Basilan Governor Wahab Akbar was killed while his six companions were unharmed in a drive-by gun attack in this Zamboanga City, the police reported Sunday, February 26, 2023.

Police Colonel Alexander Lorenzo, Zamboanga City Police Office director, identified the fatality as Paruk Taguri Marijun, 50, a resident of Isabela City, Basilan province.

Lorenzo said the incident happened around 6:02 p.m. Saturday in Sitio Canelar Moret, Canelar village, Zamboanga City.

Investigation showed that Majirun was driving a pick-up vehicle with six passengers coming from a wedding at a local hotel when repeatedly shot by an unidentified gunman aboard a motorcycle.

Marijun, though wounded, continued driving until he accidentally crashed into a parked motorcycle and a sundry store.

Marijun was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead by the attending physician. The suspect escaped.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/04/23/businessman-shot-dead-outside-rosario-batangas-town-hall

A businessman was shot dead outside the municipal hall of Rosario, Batangas on Tuesday, local police said.

Authorities identified the victim as Anselmo Javier Jr., 44, a resident of Barangay Bayawang of the said town.

Rosario Police records show that Javier was inside his vehicle parked outside the municipal hall when he was shot several times by a yet unidentified gunman at around 9:20 a.m. Tuesday.

Witnesses said the shooter, who was wearing a helmet and raincoat fled towards San Juan, Batangas after committing the crime. 

Javier was rushed to the Sto. Rosario Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2023/02/25/2247417/2-nabbed-indian-businessmans-murder

The alleged mastermind and gunman in the murder of an Indian businessman in Quezon City last Feb. 14 were arrested on Thursday.

Randy Manalo, 32, and Mark Darriel Lagarde, 21, were apprehended in separate operations, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III said.

Lagarde was arrested in Barangay Pasong Putik at around 2:45 p.m. followed by Manalo in Barangay Batasan Hills at around 3:30 p.m.

The suspects were implicated in the murder of Beant Singh, 47, in Barangay Batasan Hills.

The victim was collecting payments from several people at Kagawad and San Mateo Roads when he was shot dead by an armed man at around 2:30 p.m.

Torre said police investigators tracked down Lagarde’s whereabouts based on footage from closed-circuit television cameras and the testimony of the driver of a habal-habal, a colorum motorcycle taxi, which the suspect rode to Batasan Hills.

Police seized a .380-caliber handgun and a hand grenade from Lagarde.

Under interrogation, Lagarde identified Manalo as the one who ordered him to kill Singh in exchange for P20,000.

An investigation revealed Manalo wanted Singh dead as he owes the foreigner an unspecified amount of money.

Meanwhile, two Indian traders were ambushed by motorcycle-riding assailants in Quezon City on Thursday night, which left one of them wounded.

The incident occurred in Barangay Santol at around 9:35 p.m., the QCPD Station 11 said.

Sukhwinder Singh, 32, and Sidhu Tirlochan Singh, 30, were on a motorcycle when they were attacked at the corner of Brixton Hill and Landargon streets.

The victims told probers that two men on a motorcycle, one of whom was armed with a handgun, were the suspects.

Sukhwinder was hit in his left hand and was brought to a hospital for medical treatment while Sidhu was unscathed.

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2023/01/08/2236194/vietnamese-man-believed-killed-over-money-owed-him

A Vitenamese businessman living in Abra may have been kidnapped and killed over money he had lent someone, provincial police said.

Police Lt. Col. Maly Cula, Abra police director, said initial probe results point suggest that money lent by Vo Tien Dung, 46, might have led to someone killing him instead of paying him back. Dung was found dead in a ravine in Barangay San Marcial, San Isidro town in Abra before New Year.

Dung was reported missing on December 28, 2022. In the afternoon of December 31, two students found him dumped along the provincial road in Barangay San Marcial. 

They reported what they saw at nearby police station in Villaviciosa town who, in turn reported the discovery to San Isidro cops.

Police Executive Master Sergeant Simon Mariano, San Isidro deputy chief, said they immediately went to the scene and found the body, which he said was already decomposing. He added police were able to identify the victim as some of his clothes matched the description of those worn by Dung when he went missing.

Dung was found wearing gray pants but no upper garments.

Mariano also said that — according to the pathologist who examined Dung's remains — the victim had been strangled to death. The body also had a wound that could have been from a sharp object or a bullet.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1198221

Four foreign nationals implicated in the kidnap for ransom and killing of a Filipino-Chinese businessman in Quezon City have been arrested, the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) said on Saturday.

The arrested suspects were Chinese citizens Bei Huimin, 30; Jielong Shen, 26; and Sun XiaoHui, 26; and Vietnamese national Hong Puc Le, 33, according to a news release.

"After receiving the information from the victim’s family, PNP-AKG operatives responded to the complaint and immediately commenced an investigation. However, while the investigation and backtracking were still ongoing, the kidnapped victim was killed by his captors and they threw away his cadaver in Tanza, Cavite in the morning of March 22, 2023," the PNP-AKG said.

The PNP-AKG sought assistance from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center.

After getting all the pertinent data, the PNP-AKG conducted operations on March 23.

The three Chinese nationals were arrested after withdrawing the ransom money of PHP560,000 from a bank along Quirino Avenue in Parañaque City.

Hong was arrested later on the same day at a mall in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

“The arrest of these individuals is an important step forward in our efforts to dismantle their group and protect our communities. Rest assured that justice will spring out and we will get to the bottom of this," PNP-AKG chief Brig. Gen. Rodolfo Castil Jr. said in a statement.

That is seven businessmen assassinated in the first quarter of the year. 

Filipino Corporations Receive Millions in Free Advertising From Small Business Owners

 I saw this sign in the grass and wondered what it was doing there. 

Then I turned my head and saw this:

This business replaced their informative and colorful sign with a vulgar advertisement for margarine which is not even spelled correctly. The name of the shop is Dos Mia's Panaderia not Do's Mia's Panaderia. And they aren't even getting paid for it. I was told that whoever made this sign gave it to this panaderia free of charge. Thats good for who exactly? Not the panaderia which already had a sign showcasing their products but for Star Margarine who now gets free advertising 24 hours a day.

This is a scenario happening all throughout the country. Every little road side stand, every independently owned restaurant or shop operating out of a storefront or a hut has been bequeathed a free sign for their business which is actually free advertising for some large corporation. Corporations who avail of this free advertising include Globe, Smart, Coca-Cola, and San Miguel. 

What does Coca-Cola or Globe have to do with a carwash and why do they have so many signs!??

San Miguel is the largest Philippine company with hundreds of billions of pesos in revenue every year. P725 billion in 2020 alone! Yet they obtain free advertising from these unsuspecting business owners by gifting them free signs. You will see store signs advertising Red Horse, Tanduay Rum, various Pure Foods products, and Star Margarine all of which are produced by companies owned by the San Miguel Corporation. 

Why are they doing this? They can afford to buy the advertising. Why not at least pay these people a few thousand pesos to host their advertisements? It appears rather unethical to me but those I have spoken with don't seem to care. Perhaps they do not understand the ramifications of what is happening here. San Miguel and other corporations are milking millions in free advertising from these unsuspecting shop owners and are laughing all the way to the bank. It's pure exploitation.

Picture of the Week: Wise Buy

Rather the being a store Wise Buy is a brand of cheap products available in the Philippines. Does their logo look familiar to you?

It's the Best Buy logo!

This is of course not the first time or the last time a Filipino business has stolen the logo of a popular American business. But this is the first time I have seen such a use of a logo at the mall. Quite cheeky of them. Surely any one familiar with Best Buy who has visited this country and seen this logo has laughed out loud at the brazen and silly theft of Best Buy's logo.

Tarps In The Wind

It's not just politicians who post tarps on every electric pole and forget about them allowing these banners to slowly decay in the elements. Businesses are guilty as well. All across the country poles proudly display battered old tarps which have been reduced to garbage. Globe, SM, Smart, and more are all guilty of this practice.

That is just at a tiny sampling of all the trashy garbage tarps tangled in electrical wires and flapping loosely in the wind. A whole blog could be dedicated to this very visible type of littering of which corporations are guilty. Like those who cleaned up Manila Bay are there any volunteers who will remove these tarps? Those that are caught up in the electrical wires pose the gravest danger. If there aren't rules against hanging tarps indiscriminately all around town there should be. These ubiquitous  advertisements are eyesores as well.

Some businesses even allow weather-beaten tarps to flap from the top of their stores!

The tarp in the bottom picture might not belong to Robinsons but it's on their property and they should toss it. Having that mess of a tarp hanging down the pole as well as the remnants of the tarp on the building looks spectacularly awful. The message it sends is that Robinsons does not care about their image and presenting themselves in the most attractive light. Who wants to enter a trashy building or park next to a flapping tarp?

I can only imagine this problem is a million times worse in Manila and Cebu. Will it ever be addressed?

Killing is Their Business....and Business is Good!

Three in a row. Two businessmen murdered and one businessman shot at in a failed assassination attempt over a period of three days as if it's no big deal here in paradise. No one bats an eye at all this turbulence and murder since it's an everyday occurrence.

First up is a businessman who was brazenly gunned down on the EDSA Highway in broad daylight on February 17th.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1086757/3-people-injured-in-shooting-incident-on-edsa

A businessman and his driver were killed and a female passenger was injured in a shooting incident on the southbound lane of Edsa near Reliance Street in Mandaluyong City Sunday afternoon. 

Two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle went close to the white Toyota HiAce Grandia van they were riding on and fired several shots at its right side windows, Senior Supt. Moises Villaceran Jr., chief of the Mandaluyong City Police Station, told INQUIRER.net. 

The incident happened at 3:23 p.m., according to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Two days later on February 19th another businessman was gunned down this time after leaving church.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/223895-businessman-alex-yao-wife-shot-outside-bacolod-church-february-2019

A businessman was killed while his wife was injured after they were shot by still unidentified assailants riding a motorcycle at the premises of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Shrine (Redemptorist Church) here Tuesday night, February 19. 

Filipino-Chinese businessman Alex Yao, 54, and his wife Ma. Teresa were about to leave the church after attending a prayer meeting when they were gunned down by the suspects.

The third shooting happened less than twelve hours later.

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/218099/businessman-survives-ambush-in-mandaue-city

Police identified the businessman as  John Denero. 

According to Senior Superintendent Julian Entoma, director of the Mandaue City Police Station (MCPO), the  businessman and his wife, who was with him, were unharmed as the bullets only hit Denero’s car. 

Entoma said the suspects, based on the accounts of witnesses, fled on board a motorcycle.

Aside from the same modus operandi, motorcycle assassins, there is not much to connect these murders. At least not from these media reports. Who knows what salacious, sordid, saucy details the investigations will dig up? It is unsettling to read about the assassination  of two businessmen and the attempted assassination of another in such quick succession. Usually there are a few weeks between killings.

November 28th, 2018

https://www.rappler.com/nation/217777-businessman-dominic-sytin-shot-dead-subic-bay-freeport-november-2018

The victim was identified as Dominic Sytin, president and founder of United Auctioneers, a company engaged in the importation of secondhand vehicles. 

Witnesses said Sytin was about to enter the Lighthouse Resort and Hotel with some companions when the suspects approached him and shot him in the head. 

Sytin was dead on the spot while a still unidentified person was wounded in the attack. 

The suspects got away using a motorcycle. Authorities are still investigating the motive for the killing.

September 12, 2018

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1764082

A 56-YEAR-OLD businessman in Mandaue City was killed by an unknown gunman in front of his establishment on Hernan Cortes St. yesterday morning. 

Johnson Chiaoco, 56, a Filipino-Chinese and a paint shop owner, succumbed to a gunshot wound in the head, said Chief Insp. Zosimo Jabas of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) Station 4. 

MCPO Director Julian Entoma said they have difficulty identifying the culprit since he was wearing a full-face helmet. 

He believes the perpetrator was a professional hired killer.

August 24th, 2018

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/190918/cebu-bizwoman-shot-dead

A 71-year-old businesswoman has become the latest victim in the spate of killings in Cebu. 

Junko Hamada, the president of Beams Philippines Export Corporation in Talisay City, was shot dead by two unidentified assailants riding-in-tandem on a motorcycle while she was driving her Montero sport utility vehicle along N. Bacalso Avenue in Cebu City at around 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

July 16th, 2018

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1041607

A businessman was shot dead Monday afternoon in Barangay Batinguel here by two unidentified suspects. 

Superintendent Jonathan Pineda, police chief of Dumaguete City, identified the victim as Arsenio Vios Macahis, 55 years old, and resident of Barangay Bagacay in this provincial capital.

June 26th, 2018

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1749822/Cebu/Local-News/Filipino-Chinese-trader-gunned-down-in-Cordova

Gary Ong Go, 57, succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds. Police said three unidentified men shot him at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in Sitio Agad-Agad, Barangay Poblacion, Cordova. 

The above is eight months worth of killings. It appears the killing of a businessman happens in conjunction with the phases of the moon. Between February 17th and February 20th the moon was full with the culmination of a super snow moon the night of February 19th and morning of February 20th. The murders of November 28th, June 26th, and August 24th also occurred during a full moon. Is there a lunar connection?

http://www.phmd.pl/api/files/view/1953.pdf

Homicides and aggravated assaults demonstrated statistically significant clustering around the full moon.

Could be. Or it could be that the killing of businessmen is nothing new in the Philippines, a land where people pay back personal grudges and disputes in lead. Step back a few years and see for yourself.

2017

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/19/17/korean-businessman-killed-inside-camp-crame-bato

2014

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/611085/family-employees-shocked-by-businessman-killing

2003

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/2003/05/08/announcements/businessman-slain-in-manila-home/

Whatever the reason it is undeniable that the amount of assassinations and other crime committed by motorcyclists riding in tandem has skyrocketed over the last few years with no end in sight. Everyone is a target. As long as someone is willing to pay and someone is willing to take the job, killing is their business...and business is good!

Copycat Businesses

Why do you do when you have a failing business?  You copycat a successful business and hope for the best.

This place used to be called something like "Juan's Resto Bar."  It's just your normal everyday karaoke joint. Nothing special.  But then a new restaurant opened in the mall.

Do you see what they did?

The "V" sounds like a "B" so they changed the name of their place to "Bikingz" in imitation of this successful chain restaurant.  They even have a viking riding a bike as their logo.  

It's reminiscent of the movie "Coming to America" where there was a restaurant called "McDowell's" which was an imitation of "McDonald's."