Ms Geneva Lopez, 27, and Mr Yitshak Cohen, 37, already had plans to get married when they were killed on June 21. The police in the Philippines have arrested two former policemen for their alleged involvement in the horrific murder of a beauty queen and her Israeli fiance over a land deal gone sour. The two suspects – Michael Guiang and Rommel Abuzo – were presented to reporters at a press briefing on July 8.
They were charged for the killing of Ms Geneva Lopez, 27, and her partner, Mr Yitshak Cohen, 37. Ms Lopez, a contender in the 2023 national beauty pageant Mutya ng Pilipinas, and Mr Cohen were last seen alive on June 21. Their decomposing bodies were found on July 6 in a quarry in Capas town, in Tarlac province, 100km north of the capital Manila.
The burnt shell of the sport utility vehicle they were last seen in was recovered days earlier on June 24. Major-General Leo Francisco, head of the National Police’s Criminal and Detection Group, at the July 8 briefing said investigations showed that the two were shot by Guiang and Abuzo over a land dispute. Guiang was dismissed from police service in 2020 and Abuzo in 2019, according to Interior Minister Benjamin Abalos.
Maj-Gen Francisco said Guiang had pawned a parcel of land he owned to Ms Lopez in 2021. When he asked her to return the property so that he could sell it to a buyer, she refused. She wanted to take ownership of the land.
Guiang asked to meet Ms Lopez on June 21, supposedly to settle the matter. But when s.
