A 60-year-old Japanese man was stabbed to death last Monday near Manila by knife-wielding men who allegedly tried to rob him of his bag containing cash and other valuables, police said Thursday.

Katsushige Fujinaga, an engineer from Ibaraki Prefecture, had just arrived from Japan to visit his Filipino girlfriend when he was accosted by a group of men in the province of Bulacan, officer Florante Lasco said.

"According to the suspects that we have arrested, Fujinaga resisted when they were aiming for his bag. That's why he was stabbed. But the original plan was only to rob him," Lasco said by telephone.

Fujinaga was stabbed multiple times with a double-edged kitchen knife, a butterfly knife and an ice pick, he said.

Police have arrested three of the five suspects and on Wednesday formally charged them before the prosecutor's office for robbery with homicide.

Lasco said the main suspect is the regular driver of the victim's 32-year-old Filipino girlfriend, who had requested that he fetch him from the airport.

He said she and Fujinaga had been in a relationship for more than 10 years, making him a frequent visitor to the Philippines.