APD | Police investigation still going on a Chinese national who fell from a building

By APD writer Melo M. Acuña

**MANILA,Aug.12(APD) ** – Police Major General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar, National Capital Region Police Director, said his men are investigating the case of a Chinese national who fell from a building in Las Pinas City Friday morning.

He said the victim identified as Yang Kang, was brought to a government hospital in Las Pinas and transferred to Asian Hospital in a nearby city but died before 10:00 A.M., Friday, August 9.

Citing initial police reports, Major General Eleazar said the victim was last seen alive at about 4:00 P.M. Thursday, August 8 until confronted by a certain Shiba, a supervisor of the victim about a personal debt.

“The suspect, while waiting for payment, handcuffed the victim,” the police report revealed. The suspect temporarily placed the victim inside their office. Accordingly, the victim was able to remove the grills and attempted to escape and tried to get out at 4:00 A.M. He fell at about 4:30 A.M.

General Eleazar said a Chinese national witnessed the incident and said Shiba was the one who handcuffed the fatality. He was found on the pavement unconscious. A case of serious illegal detention is being prepared while police authorities are searching for the suspect.

Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesperson Sec. Salvador S. Panelo expressed alarm by the report of a handcuffed Chinese who fell to his death trying to escape through a 6th floor window in Las Pinas city.

“We express alarm on the death of a handcuffed Chinese national who reportedly died after escaping from a sixth-floor window and falling from the building,” Secretary Panelo said in a statement.

It was learned a CCTV footage showed the Chinese getting out of a sixth-floor window. Mr. Panelo said they have asked the Philippine National Police to investigate and track down the victim’s immediate supervisor and file appropriate charges.

“The Palace is concerned with growing reports that foreign workers in the country are being subjected to coercion, illegal detention and other violations of law even by their own countrymen while in the Philippines,” he further said.

He called on foreign nationals, especially Chinese workers, to report to Philippine authorities their employers who violate the law.

In a follow-up interview with Las Pinas City chief of police Colonel Simnar S. Gran, it was learned Yang Kang was barely a month in the Philippines. He was recruited from China by a still unknown person to work in the country.

“We learned the victim wanted to return home but was being asked to reimburse the expenses incurred in bringing him to the Philippines by the supervisor named Shiba,” Colonel Gran said in a telephone interview.

Colonel Gran said he still has to know if Yang Kang worked for a POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) outfit but he knows the building where the victim fell from housed call centers for Chinese nationals.

It will be recalled the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines issued a statement last Friday which expressed concern over the plight of Chinese workers in the Philippines.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)