An American pensioner and his Filipina wife were found dead today after an alleged murder-robbery in the Philippines.

Thomas Lumbard, 81, was resting with his partner Sarah, 65, when the suspect broke into their remote rural home in Leyte province.

The couple, both retired Walmart workers who had lived in the US, screamed when the stranger stormed into their detached property surrounded by a large garden.

However, no one else was around to hear as they were stabbed to death in the sleepy village in Ormoc.

Their bloodied corpses were discovered this morning, June 18, when Sarah's sister Melba arrived on her daily visit. She unlocked the red front gate but noticed Thomas's blood-soaked jeans and a bloody trail near the stairs of the couple's terrace.

Melba said she called the police and her siblings before they found the pair slumped over lifeless in pools of blood in the living room. Both had numerous stab wounds across their bodies, and deep cuts on their throats.

The grieving sister said: 'I don't know when they died. It's my habit to visit them every morning. I even warned them not to come out if there are strangers at their gates.'

Police said the house had been ransacked, with the vaults and cabinets emptied of jewellery and other valuables. Some of the security boxes were found in the field next to the pair's residence.

They also found a large gap in the cyclone wire fence around the property where the alleged attacker was believed to have slipped through.

Police Major Omar Roel Cartalla, chief of Police Station 3, said: 'We are considering the previous house helper a person of interest. He was replaced with a new worker for unknown reasons. According to the family, it is possible the perpetrator peeled away an already damaged section of the cyclone wire fence.

'Although the gate was unlocked, the suspect did not enter through it because it creaks when opened and would alert the couple's dog.

'After the murder, the perpetrator fled and left behind other stolen items. It is possible they were left there intentionally, and he only took the most valuable items.'

Police said a probe into the brutal killings was ongoing.

In February, another American was murdered in a brazen mugging in the crime-ridden Southeast Asian nation.

Ralph Manecke, 56, from Boston, Massachusetts, was shot by a motorcycle helmet-wearing thief after withdrawing cash for his holiday trip in Agusan del Sur on February 2.

The suspect was said to have yanked the sling bag containing the banknotes before firing into Ralph's stomach.

Police arrived after to find his same-sex Filipino partner Jerald cradling his motionless body. Ralph was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Last year, Elliot Eastman, 26, was kidnapped and murdered from the home he shared with his Filipina wife in Zamboanga del Norte.