Japanese national found dead in Toledo City, Cebu

Personnel from the Toledo City Police Office’s Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) cordon the area in Sitio Climaco Extension, Barangay Poblacion of the city where the body of Japanese national Akira Tolog was found dead on Aug. 18, 2019. |CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A Japanese national was found dead with a gunshot wound on his head in Sitio Climaco Extension, Barangay Poblacion, Toledo City, Cebu, at 9:45 a.m. today, August 18, 2019.

Police Staff Sergeant Fredenil Cabanero, the desk officer on duty at the Toledo City police, told CDN Digital by phone that residents alerted the police that a Japanese national, identified as Akira Tolog, about 60 to 70 years old, was found lying lifeless along the roadside of Sitio Climaco Extension.

He said the residents were able to immediately identify the victim as he was also residing near the area.

Residents told the police that they heard a single gunshot being fired at around the time that Tolog’s body was found.

The residents also told investigators that they had no idea who would have wanted the Japanese dead since he was known as a “kind old man” in their neighborhood who had no known enemy, Cabanero added.

According to Cabanero, their investigators were told that Tolog had been living in his own house in the area for quite some time but the police have yet to determine the exact number of years he had been residing in Toledo City.

Tolog had a Filipina live-in partner but they had been separated, said Cabanero, quoting information the police have gathered from the Japanese’s neighbors.

The police officer said they could not provide additional details as of the moment since the city police’s Scene Of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) and the Regional Crime Laboratory Office in Central Visayas (RCLO-7) were  still in the area processing the crime scene and determining  possible traces left behind by the suspect./elb