Suspect in consul’s nephew slay had TV appearances

Mugshot of the suspect in the killing of the nephew of Hong Kong Consul

 LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines – The arrested suspect in the killing of a nephew of a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official used to appear in a late night television show, the police said.

Jun Francis Bartolazo, whose Facebook page shows a picture of him in front of a streamer announcing a mall show of GMA-7’s late-night show Walang Tulugan, is now  the suspect in the killing of Paulo Miguel Catalla in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna.

Catalla, 27 and a third year medical student at the University of Perpetual Help System in Biñan City, was a nephew of Philippine Consul General to Hong Kong Bernardita Catalla.

Superintendent Reynaldo Maclang, Sta. Rosa police chief, confirmed that Bartolazo, 19, used to appear in the variety show hosted by German Moreno.

The good-looking suspect was also a third year Hotel and Restaurant Management student at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines- Sta. Rosa, he said.

In a phone interview, Maclang said Catalla met Bartolazo through a buy and sell website in June. The latter, he said, was selling an I-phone.

The two became a couple since, Maclang said.

On Thursday evening, Catalla and Bartolozo were seen entering the victim’s apartment in Labrador Subdivision in Sta. Rosa. This was after the couple had withdrawn P30,000 cash from Catalla’s account, according to the statements of the victim’s close friend and relative, Maclang said.

“They were seen (going inside the apartment) by the owner of the apartment and in the CCTV (footage),” he said.

Maclang said the two never left Catalla’s apartment since but the other tenants heard them “fighting” late Friday night to Saturday dawn.

The CCTV footage showed Bartolazo leaving the apartment early Saturday (not at dawn Friday as earlier reported) with the victim’s bag.

Bartolazo was arrested from his home on Saturday afternoon. He admitted to the police that he was the man on the CCTV footage and that he and Catalla were drunk the night they fought.

Authorities meanwhile found Catalla’s body after his friend visited on Saturday afternoon. Catalla sustained four stab wounds in the back and one on his chest from an ice pick. The victim’s cash and other belongings were missing.

Maclang said they would file robbery with a homicide charge against Bartolazo on Monday.

Consul General Catalla is expected to arrive from Hong Kong also on Monday. “(She) already knew what happened,” Maclang said.

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