CEBU CITY -- Bernard Liu, the whistleblower in a 2001 congressional hearing on a drug syndicate, was found disemboweled, doused with oil and decomposing in his house in Tangke, Talisay City, Thursday morning.
Police found his bound body outside the kitchen of his house, where several items were in disarray.
His neighbors at Naya Subdivision had not seen him for two weeks.
They got suspicious when they smelled something foul coming from his house and Liu did not come out despite stones being thrown at his gate.
They informed the barangay officials who then called the police. The responding policemen found the decomposing body of Liu near the kitchen.
In August 2001, Liu testified before the congressional committee on dangerous drugs that Chinese-Cebuano businessmen Peter and Wellington Lim were involved in a drug syndicate known as Hong Kong Triad.
He faced a complaint for illegal importation and possession of drugs after he admitted at the congressional inquiry that he ran drugs for the Lim brothers in Hong Kong. Liu’s buddy who also worked for the Lims, Ananias Dy, was gunned down on July 8, 2006 in Katipunan, Cebu City.
Liu, past 50, had been living alone after members of his household began leaving him because of his bad temper.
A daughter would visit to give him money and his medicines. He bought his food in the nearby carenderia.
SP04 Daniel Tarucan of the Talisay police said Liu was tied with a rope but bore no sign of being strangled.
He was gutted—"nahabwa ang tina-i" was Tacuran’s description. A bolo was found near Liu’s body.
Police said they will have Liu’s body autopsied. They found the house in disarray.
Former members of Liu’s household said a P50,000-metal urn, which contained the ashes of Liu’s father Alexander, and a gold bracelet around it, were missing.
The gold bracelet had Alexander’s name engraved on it. Liu’s relatives begged off from being interviewed.
Neighbors recalled that they last saw him on August 30 when his daughter visited him.
The daughter had lived with him for many years but moved out of the house after a quarrel.
Police said they are pursuing all angles, including robbery.
Liu was robbed before and he reported his .45 pistol stolen.
He had also been stabbed just soon after he was released from prison in September 2007. He had been arrested for the drug charges filed against him.
A caretaker said that after his family left him, Liu would say that he would kill himself because no one loved him.
Liu’s remains were brought to Cebu Rolling Hills.
Meanwhile, Representative Tomas Osmeña was shocked to learn of Liu’s death. He had hired Liu at City Hall when he was still mayor. Osmeña assigned him to the office of Councilor Augustus Pe Jr.
Liu's item at City Hall was utility worker and he was assigned in the medical assistance program of the City between 2007 and 2010.
Osmeña remembered also assigning him at the South Road Properties so his safety would not be compromised. (DSM/JGA/Sun.Star Cebu)
