Two Filipinos held for the murder of a Japanese couple will be accorded the necessary assistance, the Department of Foreign Affairs told DAILY TRIBUNE over the weekend.

DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega, in a text message, said the agency is “ready to continue providing assistance” to Bryan Jefferson dela Cruz, 34, and Hazel Ann Baguisa Morales, 30.

The two were detained in Japan in late January for allegedly abandoning the corpses of Norihiro Takahashi and his wife Kimie, both in their 50s.

“Yes, now they are being investigated for murder. We will see in the next few weeks what will be the final charges to be filed against them,” De Vega said.

He assured the Philippine Embassy is “in touch” with Japanese authorities.

“They were always in detention, so by ‘rearrested,’ what it means is that they are now undergoing a new criminal investigation for a separate crime,” he clarified.