Two Australian nationals and their Filipina companion have been killed in a hotel in a popular resort city south of the Philippine capital, with police trying to identify and track down the suspects, officials say.
A hotel worker found the bodies of the victims, whose hands and feet were tied, in a room at the Lake Hotel in Tagaytay city, south of Manila, about 1.35pm (3.35pm AEST) on Wednesday, according to a police statement.
The Australian male victim’s throat was slit with a sharp object that may have caused his death while the two women apparently may have been suffocated using a pillow, Tagaytay police chief Charles Daven Capagcuan told The Associated Press. Ongoing autopsies would verify those initial indications, he said.
Cavite Police named the victims as Australians David, 57, and Lucita, 55, and Filipina Mary, 30.
Capagcuan said the motive for the killings was not immediately clea and added some valuables of the victims, including their cellphones, were not taken by the suspect.
“We were shocked by this incident,” Tagaytay Mayor Abraham Tolentino said, apologising to the families of the victims.
“We’re very sorry to our Australian friends. We will resolve this as soon as possible.”
Investigators were interviewing witnesses and examining security cameras at the hotel which could help identify the suspect or suspects, Tolentino said without elaborating.
Investigators were interviewing witnesses and examining security cameras at the hotel, including footage that showed a man wearing a mask and a hoodie and carrying a sling bag who walked out of the victims’ room a few hours before their bodies were discovered, Capagcuan said.
