Pnp Tags Brother in Subic Trader's Slay

A bitter quarrel over business between two brothers that turned deadly - that is what cost trader Dominic Lim Sytin his life, the Philippine National Police said on Monday.

Director General Oscar Albayalde, the PNP chief, announced in a news conference at Camp Crame, Quezon City, a breakthrough in the investigation of Sytin's Nov. 28, 2018, murder, naming the trader's younger brother Dennis Lim Sytin as the mastermind and reporting the arrest of the confessed gunman, Edgardo Paredes Luib.

Luib, alias Inject, has been implicated in several other murders, including the 2015 gun slaying of former Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent Melinda Magsino in Batangas City.

Albayalde said a witness gave investigators a lead to Luib's identity, which led to his arrest in Santo Tomas, Batangas province, on March 5 and to the identification of Dennis Sytin as the mastermind.

'Brazen lie'

Dennis denied the accusation, calling it a 'brazen lie' in an e-mail to the Inquirer late on Monday.

'It is regrettable that although the police investigators themselves have acknowledged the information that I gave them and that I was ready at all times to help in the investigation, I now have to defend myself against those who have, without basis, maliciously pointed to me as responsible for my own brother's death,' Dennis said.

Addressing his friends and relatives, he said: 'I am not the kind who can kill any person, let alone my own brother who, despite our differences, I have loved together with my other siblings.'

The Sytin family owns United Auctioneers Inc. (UAI), a heavy equipment company founded by Dominic, who was also its chief executive officer.

Dennis has a 20-percent stake in the company, and was its chief operating officer until his firing in November, days before Dominic was shot dead at Subic Bay Freeport in Zambales province.

Director Amador Corpus, chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said Dennis was fired on Nov. 15 for forming his own company and poaching UAI clients.

Big fight

'The brothers had a big fight then and he (Dennis) was barred from going to UAI,' Corpus told reporters.

Corpus said Dennis employed Ryan Rementilla, who was fired from UAI in August last year for embezzling company funds.

He said Dennis asked Rementilla, who changed his name to Oliver Fuentes when he joined UAI in 2001, to look for a hit man to kill Dominic after his quarrel with his elder brother and firing from UAI.

Rementilla got Luib...