INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
LUCENA CITY, Philippines – A Korean national was found dead and believed to have committed suicide inside his room at the ritzy country club and hotel in Tayabas City early morning Thursday, police said.
Senior Superintendent Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Quezon police chief, said the Tayabas police received a call at 6:30 a.m. from an employee of the Graceland Estates and Country Club located in Barangay (village) Camaysa to seek police assistance to prevent Jae Hyeong Cho, 31, from committing suicide.
Ylagan said Ivy Santos Araullo, the Filipino girlfriend of the victim, earlier sought the assistance of hotel employees to help her stop the Korean — who was then locked up inside their room — from taking his own life.
When lawmen arrived at the club, Araullo told the police that his boyfriend could have already killed himself because they heard a gunshot inside the room moments before the arrival of the authorities, Ylagan said.
Policemen forcibly opened the door of the room and discovered the bloodied body of the victim who had a gunshot wound to the head. A .45 pistol was found beside the victim.
Tayabas City health officer, Dr. Hernando Marquez, arrived at the crime scene and pronounced that the victim was already dead due to the lone gunshot wound to the skull, Ylagan said.
Ylagan said Araullo told investigators that Cho, a businessman, was having financial problem and told her that he wanted to end his life.
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