“It was a message,” said a police source. The neighborhood, accustomed to shocks, this time awoke with fear. The traces of the crime were marked on the asphalt like scars: a charred vehicle, a lost life, and a lit warning.
From La Joyita to Pedregal The route was short and predictable. His old ties to the criminal organization known as “Filipino Mafia” kept him on the radar of security forces. And last night, the radar located him for the last time, dead.
Fire, Fear, and Silence in Pedregal Neighbors in the area recounted that around two in the morning they heard a dry explosion, followed by a flash that illuminated the alley. When the firefighters arrived, the fire had consumed the car and its occupant. The streets that once saw him armed and defiant today only show ashes. The authorities are following the trail of possible suspects, but in police corridors, no one doubts that this case bears the seal of revenge. The Public Prosecutor's Office keeps the proceedings under reserve, while the neighborhood lives in fear in the area, after the death of the man who believed he had escaped justice, but found his final sentence between fire and darkness.
What was left was an unrecognizable body and a dense cloud of smoke that smelled of gasoline and revenge. The Homicide and Femicide Prosecutor's Office of the Public Prosecutor's Office has taken over the investigation, while the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences analyzes the remains to officially confirm the identity of the deceased. Everything indicates that the crime was a settling of scores between gangs.
A “creature” with enemies “The fire was not accidental.” This could be a summary of the story of the man found burned to death inside a vehicle in the Rana de Oro sector, in Loma del Sapo, Pedregal district, whose end was as violent as his past. The embers of the car were still smoking when the authorities unofficially considered what was already circulating by word of mouth: the deceased was not unknown to the law.
The Toyota Corolla, reduced to scrap by the flames, was registered to a woman residing in Don Bosco and Pacora. She herself confirmed to the investigators that the car was used by her stepson, an individual with an extensive criminal record: weapons, prison, escapes, and dangerous friendships. The man, whose identity is still awaiting forensic confirmation, had a dangerous criminal past. In May 2018, he was apprehended in Chame with an arsenal inside a vehicle. Just four months later, La Chorrera saw him fall again, this time for illegal possession of weapons. In 2019, he entered La Joyita, where he served 108 months in prison. In March 2023, he was released under the figure of community work, but his freedom was short and turbulent. On June 12, 2025, he appeared again in police reports after being captured at the La Siesta checkpoint, Tocumen, in the company of alias “Manuelito”, one of the most wanted men for homicide and robbery. According to a police source, everything pointed to the street not forgiving him.
Out of hell... and back to hell he went.