TECO confident of fair trial for Taiwanese tagged in murder, mutilation of Pinay wife

MANILA — A week after the gruesome murder and mutilation of Filipina Rowena Kuo allegedly by her 45-year-old Taiwanese husband in their home in Makati City, the Taipei Economic and Culture Office (TECO) expressed confidence about seeing a fair trial of the case in the Philippines.

In its official statement released Saturday, TECO condemned the killing and offered condolences to the kin of the victim.

“We have been deeply shocked and saddened by the recent killing of Mrs. Rowena Kuo and the subsequent mutilation of her body,” the office said in its statement.

“As the case has already been handed over to the appropriate Philippine judiciary authorities, we have full confidence that the relevant Philippine judicial authorities will conduct a fair trial and render justice to this case,” it added.

On Thursday, the Makati police recovered from their home the victim’s legs and arms–allegedly chopped up by Kuo Yuan-chang, her husband for 18 years.

The body parts were dumped inside the septic tank of their house on Taylo Street in Barangay Pio del Pilar. Earlier, the suspect’s daughter-in-law Joanne Jane Tiangco discovered the victim’s head and torso wrapped in a blanket in the stockroom on the third floor.

The suspect was a surgeon who practised in mainland China and not in Taiwan, reports from TECO said.

The agency, hoping that the shocking crime would not have a negative impact on, and impressions of the Taiwanese, considered the killing as a “homicide” abhorrent to Taiwan and the Taiwanese people.  The TECO added such a murder “seldom happen(ed) in Taiwan.”

The Taiwan government has already extended help to the family of the suspect in visiting him in his detention cell in the Philippines.  It also provided legal advice and assistance to the suspect.  SFM