Philippine officials say suspect in the killings of 2 Australians and a Filipina has surrendered

TAGAYTAY, Philippines (AP) — The suspect in the killings of two Australians and their Filipina companion at a hotel in a popular resort city south of Manila surrendered and claimed he wanted to retaliate against the hotel for firing him, Philippine officials said Wednesday.

The suspect further said that he randomly barged into the victims’ room last week because its window was open, authorities added.

The victims, whose hands and feet were tied, were found sprawled on the floor in a street-level room at the Lake Hotel in Tagaytay city on July 10 in a heinous crime that shattered the tranquility the tourism destination known for a picturesque volcano nestled in a lake, Tagaytay Mayor Abraham Tolentino said.

In a pre-dawn news conference at the city hall, Tolentino and police officials presented the handcuffed suspect, who was wearing a hoodie, dark eyeglasses and a face mask. The man, whose identity was not released, will face criminal complaints for the killings and robbery, Tagaytay police chief Charles Daven Capagcuan said.

The mayor repeated an apology to the victims’ families and to Australia for what he called the senseless killings.

"We are pleased to present to you the main suspect in this brutal crime and as promised that within a week, we will resolve and give justice,” Tolentino said, without identifying the victims as requested by their families.

In a Southeast Asian country where many criminal suspects have managed to evade arrest for months or years before getting captured, Tolentino commended the police for rapidly identifying and locating the suspect, who was then apparently pressured to give up.

Capagcuan told The Associated Press ahead of the news conference that the breakthrough in the case came when the suspect was identified by at least three hotel employees based on his image, which was captured by security cameras showing a part of his face when his mask slid down.

The identification and information from witnesses eventually led authorities to the suspect’s Batangas home province near Tagaytay, where he decided to surrender on Tuesday, the police chief said.

"He wanted to get back at the hotel management for his dismissal,” Capagcuan told reporters, adding that the suspect used to work as a swimming pool cleaner but was fired by the hotel in March after he was linked to a robbery in one of the rooms.

Police officials planned to file criminal complaints of robbery in addition to the killings against the suspect.

The man acknowledged taking the watch and shoes of the Australian male victim after attacking him with a knife and suffocating his partner, a Filipino woman who had acquired Australian citizenship, and her Filipina daughter-in-law, Capagcuan said.

"He barged randomly with a knife into the room because its window was open,” Capagcuan said.

The Australian woman and her daughter-in-law are to be buried in their family’s home province in the Philippines while the remains of the Australian man would be flown Tuesday to Sydney, Tolentino said.

The Australian couple had planned to fly back to Australia on July 10, the day they were killed, but decided to briefly take a vacation in Tagaytay, the Filipino son of the slain Australian-Filipino woman told AP. He spoke on condition of anonymity last week because he was fearful after what happened to his mother and his wife and given the suspect remained at large at that time.

During the news conference, the son, who still concealed his identity with a white facial mask and a sport cap, thanked the police and the mayor for quickly locating the suspect. He asked the suspect, who was standing near him, what made him commit the gruesome crime but the man did not respond.

Tagaytay, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Manila, is popular among local and foreign tourists who flock there for its cool weather and to view one of the world’s smallest active volcanos in a lake from elevated ridges teeming with restaurants, viewing decks and hotels, including the one where last week’s killings took place.

Associated Press journalists Aaron Favila and Joeal Calupitan contributed to this report.

Tagaytay Mayor Abraham N. Tolentino, center, talks during a press conference as a suspect, center back, in the killing of two Australian nationals and their Filipino companion stands at the back following his surrender in Tagaytay city, Cavite province, Philippines, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. A hotel worker found the bodies of three victims, whose hands and feet were tied, on July 10 in a room at a hotel in the popular resort of Tagaytay city, south of Manila. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Tagaytay Mayor Abraham N. Tolentino, left, presides in a news conference as a relative of the victim, right, talks with reporters near the suspect, left, in the killing of two Australian nationals and their Filipino companion stands at the back following his surrender in Tagaytay city, Cavite province Philippines on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. A hotel worker found the bodies of three victims, whose hands and feet were tied, on July 10 in a room at a hotel in the popular resort of Tagaytay city, south of Manila. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A suspect in the killing of two Australian nationals and a Filipino is escorted under tight security following his surrender in Tagaytay city, Cavite province Philippines on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. A hotel worker found the bodies of three victims, whose hands and feet were tied, on July 10 in a room at a hotel in the popular resort of Tagaytay city, south of Manila. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A suspect in the killing of two Australian nationals and a Filipino arranges his face mask as he is presented to reporters following his surrender in Tagaytay city, Cavite province Philippines on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. A hotel worker found the bodies of three victims, whose hands and feet were tied, on July 10 in a room at a hotel in the popular resort of Tagaytay city, south of Manila. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A suspect in the killing of an Australian couple and a Filipino is escorted by police in Tagaytay city, Cavite province, Philippines, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Philippine officials say the suspect in the killings of two Australians and their Filipino companion inside their room in Tagaytay has surrendered (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A suspect in the killing of two Australian nationals and a Filipino is escorted by police following his surrender in Tagaytay city, Cavite province Philippines on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's newest panda twin s are thriving at the Berlin Zoo. The cubs spent their first five days of life taking turns cuddling and drinking milk from their mother every hour.

Born Thursday to mother Meng Meng, 11, the zoo said Tuesday that it's cautiously optimistic during this critical period — panda cub mortality is at its highest within the first two weeks of birth and through the first month because they don't yet have a functioning immune system.

Without human help, one of the cubs likely would not have survived because giant pandas usually only raise one cub when they give birth to twins. So the zoo has stepped in with a team that includes experts from China's Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, who are on a visit to Berlin.

When one of the twins is with their mother, the other is spending time in an incubator donated by a Berlin hospital.

“Without protective measures, the giant panda would most likely already be extinct,” zoo director Andreas Knieriem said in Tuesday’s news release, adding "every cub that grows up healthy counts.”

China gifted friendly nations with its unofficial mascot for decades as part of a “panda diplomacy″ policy. The country now loans pandas to zoos on commercial terms. There are about 1,800 pandas living in the wild in China and a few hundred in captivity worldwide.

Currently deaf, blind and pink — their black-and-white panda markings will develop later — the firstborn twin now weighs 180 grams, while the second is roughly 145 grams (6.35 and 5.11 ounces). Both have regained their birth weights and added more grams, which the zoo considers a promising sign. The cubs' sex has not yet been determined “with certainty.”

Meng Meng was artificially inseminated on March 26. Female pandas are fertile only for a few days per year at the most. The twins' father, 14-year-old Jiao Qing, is not involved in rearing the cubs.

Meng Meng and Jiao Qing arrived in Berlin in 2017. In August 2019, Meng Meng gave birth to male twins Pit and Paule, also known by the Chinese names Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan, the first giant pandas born in Germany.

Those twins flew to China in December on a journey that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic but had been contractually agreed to from the beginning.

FILE -An embryo of a panda bear of pregnant panda Meng Meng is marked on the screen of an ultrasound machine at the panda enclosure at Berlin Zoo, Aug. 13, 2024. (Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP, File)

FILE -An embryo of a panda bear of pregnant panda Meng Meng is marked on the screen of an ultrasound machine at the panda enclosure at Berlin Zoo, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP, File)

This photo released by the Zoo Berlin shows employee measuring newborn giant panda twins at the Zoo in Berlin on Thursday, Aug. 22, 20024. (© 2024 Zoo Berlin via AP)

This photo released by the Zoo Berlin shows employee measuring two new born giant pandas at the Zoo in Berlin on Thursday, Aug. 22, 20024. (© 2024 Zoo Berlin via AP)