Grand Tip Bag alleged Ragnarok-related Murder

The Grand Tip Bag (also referred to as the “Grand Tip Bag Murder” or “Ragnarok Online murder case”) alleged murder is a story which derives from photos taken of a supposed newspaper clipping which detailed a murder committed by a Ragnarok Player over a "Grand Tip Bag", a mistranslation of "Golden Thief Bug", which the player allegedly murdered someone over.

Text of the supposed article

SK Chair's Killing Ties To P1.5M Reward

Bacoor, Cavite - Ragnarok is his real life and he is the guild master. What he wanted was the Grand Tip Bag -- the game's cheat code, a computer card that will lead him to a series of online game victory. And he shots two people to death, in real life, simply for that GTB.

An 18-year-old student of Mapua Institute Of Technology (MIT) was arrested by Bacoor police authorities in Malate, Manila recently after the lone witness and survivor of a shootout that killed a Sangguniang Kabataan chairman and another youth identified him as the primary suspect. 

Chief Inspector Rommel Marbil, Bacoor police chief, presented to Mayor Jessie Castillo on weekend the suspect identified as Conrad James B. Paraon, a second year Computer Engineering student at MIT and a scion of a prominent family in the province of Batangas. 

Paraon is an aficionado player of Ragnarok, an on-line computer game by Level Up, and is known as a guild master in the virtual world of Ragnarok. 

Police said, Paraon was arrested inside a computer show in Vito Cruz, Malate while playing Ragnarok.

"He didn't resist arrest, and he shows no sign of remorse knowing he was arresed for killing of two people in Bacoor," said Marbil who was perplexed by the suspect's reaction. 

Marbil said that Paraon belongs to a team of on-line Ragnarok game players who joined and won the national competition last June 25 at the World Trade Center that gave out some P1.5 million cash prize. 

SK Chair's/ Page 2

(Grainy image of 3 people in an office) 
GUILD MASTER ARRESTED. Ragnarok on-line game master Conrad James Paraon, in handcuff, faces Mayor Jessie Castillo (sitting) of Bacoor to whom he was presented by C/ Insp. Rommel Marbil (in uniform) after his arrest. Paraon was being tagged by police witnesses as the primary suspect in the killing of a SK chairman and another youth in Daang Bakal, Bacoor. (Photo by Tony Rocamora)

SK chair's killing ties to...
From Page 1

Marbil said the half million of the prize went to the St. Michael Institute in Bacoor who sponsored the team from Cavite, while the remaining P1 million, as agreed upon, was to be sub-divided equally. 

Police record shows that on October 28, while playing computer games inside an internet station in Barangay Daang Bukid, 25 year old SK chairman Alvin Conception and friend Alger Bartolome was shot to death when four teenagers armed with 9mm pistol entered the said shop.

Michael Alejandro, 23, also friends of the two fatalities, luckily survived the shootout when the suspect left him wounded, thinking he was dead.

Alejandro positively identified Paraon who shot them inside the internet station.

Paraon denied his involvement on the killing and added, in his statement, that a certain Mark Sablan, also a Ragnarok player, was the one who carted the one million prizes. 

Alejandro told police investigators however that it was Sablan that Paraon was after that night because it was Sablan who has kept the GTB cheat code that the suspect wanted. 

Police charged Paraon with double murder in court. (By Tina Go-Timbang/Michael B. Silva)

Is it real?

Looking at some of the information provided in the article, it appears plausible although some information provided conflicts with some sources -- the winnings for the 2005 event referenced in the article have been reported elsewhere as 1 million, but 1.5 million was the total of all prizes given. This conflicts with the article which states 1.5 million was the prize split between participants in the given guild.

There is a related news article in the Phillipine Star which was written by a Cristina Timbang on October 9, 2005, a name which is similar to that provided in the above article, "Tina Go-Timbang". The article actually published in the Phillipine Star (PhilStar) stated:

CAVITE – Three men including an SK chairman were confirmed dead after the victims were shot in separate violence in the town of Tanza and Bacoor, Cavite last night.

Among the murdered victims were Arvin Concepcion, SK chairman, Alger Bartolome, 25, fellow resident of Barangay Daang Bukid, Bacoor, Cavite; and Cesar Buates, 48, barangay volunteer and living in Sta. Cecilia Subd. in Barangay Mulawin, Tanza, Cavite.

Based on the police report, the victims, Concepcion and Bartolome, were shot by four unknown men while the victims were playing computer games in the area covered by Barangay Daang Bukid.

Meanwhile, Michael Alejandro, 23, of Fisherman Village in Barangay Poblacion was critically injured.

For an inexplicable reason, no one recognized the suspects who fled in an unknown direction and it is believed that a frat war was one of the motives of the crime.

Following this, another barangay volunteer was shot dead by an unknown man, while the victim was sleeping in the barangay outpost in Barangay Mulawin, Tanza, Cavite.

The victim, Buates, did not wake up after being wounded around 5 am, according to the police report. (Cristina Weight)

This indicates that a person named Arvin Conception who was a "SK Chairman" (Sangguniang Kabataan -- the Phillipine youth assembly), along with Alger Bartolome (also mentioned in the article image), Cesar Buates (not mentioned), and Michael Alejandro (also mentioned). However, the article above states the people were suspected of murdering another person sleeping in an outpost, which is not included in the other article.

Uncertainties and discrepancies in the article

The most likely pointers to the fact this is a hoax stem from the fact that the location, date and time, as well as the newspaper name are excluded from the article's image.

The article in the image is alleged to be written by an author named "Tina Go-Timbang", who did write for the Phillipine Star (PhilStar) but from 2013 onwards, not from 2005 when this incident likely occurred. The paper shows records online of articles from as early as 2002.

The article states that at the time Rommel Marbil was Chief Inspector, however, public records of his career history do not show him occupying this post-- he was Officer-In-Charge for a financial department of the police, then director for PNP regional office, and Police Superintendent, not chief inspector (PC/INSP). It's possible however, he could have occupied this position as he is currently in a higher rank and may have passed through it.

The photograph taken by "Tony Rocamora" could refer to Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Ramon Antonio Vicente Rocamora, however, he is the prosecutor for Bacong rather than Bacoor where this is incident occurred so it is unlikely. There is no record of a photographer with the name "Tony Rocamora" in search results as of 2024 -- it is also possible this information could have decayed, or been removed since 2005.

An industry site refers to the event referenced in the article in the image and also references the alleged culprit's Ragnarok Online team, Team Hatred, stating:

Team Hatred is composed of Conrad James Faraon, 18; John Madlangbayan, 19; Carlo Templora, 22; Melvin Yee, 19; Mel John Toan, 20; Zyrus Lunas, 19; Andrew Justin, 22; Jhun Richie Chua, 19; and Emmanuel Tanyao, 19.

This article however, contradicts the claim in the image which states the referenced prize money was 1.5 million, however the article, as well as a video of Ragnarok Phillipine Championship event shows the prize money as 1 million and also references that the sponsor of the team was Collegian Internet Café, not St. Michael Institute, which is a school located in Bacoor.

The alleged murderer is also on Facebook, registering an account in 2010 and seemingly working since, which would be unlikely if the case occurred in 2005 since the Phillipines has a minimum of 20 years for murder, which would indicate such a prison sentence to run at minimum 20 to 40 years. The guild, Team Hatred, has no posting on its Facebook page of any reference to any such past, although absence of evidence does not indicate positive confirmation no such thing occurred.