Filipino woman admits to killing sister, Japanese niece

A Filipino woman has admitted to killing her sister and Japanese niece, who were initially reported missing but whose bodies were found last week in Quezon province, south of the capital Manila, Philippine authorities said Sunday.

A police official privy to the case told Kyodo News that they obtained a video of Ligaya Pajulas confessing to the crime. She is now in a hospital in Quezon after an attempted suicide upon learning the bodies were discovered.

Pajulas, an older sister of the victim Lorry Litada, purportedly said in the video that the crime was planned in December as they were fighting over money. Pajulas is now in police custody.

Litada, 54, and her daughter, Mai Motegi, 26, a Japanese citizen working for a Japanese airline-related company, arrived in the Philippines last month and stayed at Pajulas' residence in Tayabas City in Quezon.

According to the police, a nephew of the sisters said Litada and Motegi were planning to make transactions over a property during their trip and were carrying 5 million pesos ($90,000) in cash for it.

The mother and daughter were reported missing on March 9 after other relatives failed to make contact with them. They failed to board their respective flights late last month.

Police found the victims' remains in a shallow grave near Pajulas' home in Tayabas on March 14. Litada had a puncture wound on the chest, while Motegi had suffered a broken jaw, based on initial information, the police official said.

A suitcase belonging to one of the victims, along with its blood-stained contents, was also found in another area. A police investigator said security camera footage showed Pajulas, her husband Charlie and two other men, together with the suitcase, on a motorized tricycle.