Chinese couple shot in Makati restaurant

MAKATI, Philippines — A Chinese couple were shot by their three dinner companions in an upscale restaurant in Makati City on Wednesday night.

Information technology employee Yin Jian Tao, 33, died at the scene while his wife Zheng Kai, 25, also an online employee, was rushed to the Makati Medical Center for treatment of several gunshot wounds.

The couple were having dinner in the VIP room of the Jiang Nan Hotpot restaurant on N. Garcia street in Barangay Bel-Air with three Chinese men at around 10 p.m. Thursday night.

Restaurant employees saw the three men run out of the restaurant and the couple lying on the floor of the restaurant.

The restaurant’s security guard and five barangay watchmen gave chase, catching two of the three suspects.

Police recovered a 9mm pistol, two .45 caliber pistols and a bag containing P345,000 from Yang Chao Wen, 32, and Liang Yuan Wu, 29.

Maj. Gideon Ines, investigation unit chief, said the victims met with the suspects in order to convert P1 million into yuan for the three men.

However, the suspects – clad in what looked like soldiers’ uniforms, according to other restaurant patrons who were also Chinese – only intended to rob the victims, Ines said.

The third suspect, who remains at large, could have brought another bag containing the remainder of the P1 million.

Investigators have yet to verify with the Chinese embassy if the suspects were indeed members of China’s military.

Acting Southern Police District director Col. Emmanuel Peralta said they are looking into the growing trend of violent encounters among the Chinese and the possibility of credit schemes in Philippine offshore gaming operators being related to such incidents.

He said they will increase patrols in areas where similar incidents happened and coordinate with establishment owners to prevent the Chinese from carrying firearms into the premises. – With Neil Jayson Servallos