POLICE captured yesterday the alleged henchman of a robbery gang leader who owned up to the killing of Fr. Jovencio Rabusa in Talisay City last Monday. Lawmen cornered Jonas “Tingloy” Turawan, 21, a taho vendor, while he was asleep in his aunt’s house in Poro town, Camo-tes Island, Cebu at 6 a.m.

“I did not resist arrest, I even told my siblings to reveal my location if someone looks for me,” the handcuffed Turawan told reporters at the Talisay City Police Station.

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His arrest completed the cast of four local gang members who have allegedly been preying on pedestrians along a dark stretch of the Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR) in Talisay City.

It sealed the robbery case that ended the life of 46-year-old Rabusa of the St. Francis of Assisi Parish Church in Naga City.

It was not the first time Turawan ran into trouble with the law.

Records showed that PO1 Jundave David arrested him for taking part in the stabbing of whistleblower Bernard Liu in Barangay Tanke in July last year.

Liu, who hogged the limelight for exposing his former employers’ alleged illegal drug trade in a congressional inquiry, survived the attack.

Police launched a manhunt for Turawan after the latter’s companions revealed he fled to Camotes Island last Wednesday afternoon, two days after the attack on Fr. Rabusa.

Upon arriving in Camotes, Turawan stayed at his parents’ house in Barangay Talisay, San Francisco town.

But he reportedly left early dawn and took a paddle boat to his aunt Ester’s house in Sitio Pajo, Barangay Tigis, Poro.

Like two of his alleged cohorts—Gerald “Pangag” Tradio, 18, and a 15-year-old minor—Turawan named Ruselo “Racel” Ravanes as the gunman who shot Rabusa in the back.

Minor

Ravanes and Turawan will face a case of robbery with homicide at the city prosecutor’s office.

Biñas said the 15-year-old teenager will be included in the case, as it is still debatable whether he acted with discernment in the robbery.

The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 exempts those 15 years old and younger from criminal liability. They will undergo instead an intervention program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

But those above 15 and below 18 years old must first show whether they acted with discernment in a crime, Biñas said.

Duka turned 15 last June 8.

For his part, Tradio was separately charged with illegal possession of firearms and drugs.

Yesterday, Turawan said that Rabusa was only resting near some roadside mango trees along the CSCR when Ravanes approached him past 8 p.m. last Monday.

Ran

The priest, along with a young male companion, was on his way to his sister’s house at Sacred Homes Village in Barangay Cansojong.

When Ravanes ordered Rabusa at gunpoint to hand over his cellular phone, the priest pushed him aside and tried to flee towards the nearby Shell gas station, Turawan said.

He was shot in the back thrice.

“The man did not utter any word when he tried to escape and until he was shot,” Turawan said.

He denied Ravanes’ claim that he took the cellular phone and black Hanes bag from Rabusa. He said he ran away and returned home to Sitio Upper Ebacan, Barangay Cansojong.

The youngest of nine siblings, Turawan has a live-in partner with whom he fathered a six-month-old baby girl.

He also denied that he kept the weapon, a .38 revolver, adding that the police can even examine his hands.

Supt. Henry Biñas, Talisay City Police Station chief, noticed that Turawan and his minor companion, identified only as Duka, offered similar testimonies on their participation in the robbery.

They put the blame on Ravanes.

Drinks

Turawan said he never had any idea that Ravanes would pull off a heist at CSCR because he merely accompanied him to buy drinks at the Shell station.

“It was my first time. I regretted that I joined him that night,” he added.

Turawan also denied that he went along with Ravanes and Duka to Tradio’s house in Sitio Riverside, Cansojong after the incident.

Tradio told reporters earlier that the group asked for his help to dispose of Rabusa’s cellular phone, which was sold to a construction worker in Tanke for P1,200.

Upon hearing of Turawan’s arrest, kibitzers crowded again outside the Talisay City Police Station just to catch a glimpse of the suspect.

But yesterday’s crowd was leaner compared to the one during last Wednesday’s arrest of Ravanes and Tradio and the surrender of the minor.