The ambulance arrived at Block 16, Jalan Tenteram, and paramedics found a Filipino man in a 16th-storey flat.

The 27-year-old's body was in a sitting position on the floor, his upper torso slumped on the bed beside him.

It was a dead-on-arrival case as the man, Mr Filojfido Bernard Montemayor, had no pulse and was not breathing.

The police were next on the scene and declared the case a murder - the second of the year.

There was no blood around the body and the police would not say what kind of injuries the man had sustained, save that they were to his upper body. It is understood that he had bruises on his neck.

The police also did not find any weapon in the flat, and had not arrested anyone by press time.

The dead man, who was unemployed, was bare-chested and wore only a pair of shorts. He is believed to be here on a social visit pass.

Neighbours said he lived there with another man and two women, all Filipinos in their 20s.

The two women are said to be nurses at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, but it is not known what the other male tenant does.

The four had moved in about three months ago, renting the five-room flat from a Singaporean couple.

Only one woman, in a light blue uniform, was spotted at the flat yesterday and she was later led to a police car by detectives and taken away.

A police spokesman said the dead man's co-tenants were assisting in their investigations.

Teenager Benjamin Chong, 14, said he was sleeping when he was woken by sounds of a quarrel and furniture being hurled around in the flat just beneath his.

He said: 'The noise went on for about 20 minutes. At one time, I could hear a woman's faint cries for help.'

Neighbours said they often heard the occupants arguing.

They were noisy in other ways as well.

Neighbours said the group would jam, or play music on their drums and electric guitars, in the evening, sometimes even till past midnight.

Mr Juvior, 23, who lives two doors away, said yesterday: 'Just last night, around 7 pm, they were jamming with their front door open. It got noisy so I closed my front door.'

Otherwise, the four kept mostly to themselves.

This is the second murder case this year. Three weeks ago, a man was charged with murder for causing the death of a three-year-old toddler.

There were 18 murders last year.

ndianah@sph.com.sg