Thursday, December 30, 2004
9 of 12 salvage victims had long rap sheets
By Jovy S. Taghoy
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
GOING by records from the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC), almost all the victims in vigilante-style executions in the past week had gained notoriety as robbers or thieves.
Sun.Star checked the criminal records of nine of the 12 victims, as kept by the BBRC administration and records section, and confirmed that most of them had been detained for robbery.
Murder and drug possession were also common cases.
In the order in which they were killed, one by one, these are the men’s criminal records:
Jimmy Duarte, killed Dec. 22:
Duarte, 36, was based in Pier 3, Cebu City and had been sent to the Cebu City Jail at least seven times.
In his most recent case, he was detained from Aug. 15, 2003 to Oct. 26 this year, for violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Anti-Drugs Abuse Law of 2002. He was released after putting up a bond.
Before that, he spent three days in BBRC in July 2003 and was fined P200 for concealing a deadly weapon.
From Dec. 27, 2001 to Aug. 26, 2002, he served time for drug possession. Six years prior, he was also committed for a similar offense on Dec. 12, 1996 and stayed behind bars until Oct. 21, 1997.
He was charged with robbery on March 23, 1995, but was released in July that year after the case was dismissed. A case of frustrated murder was also dismissed, but only after he was detained from May 22 to Aug. 3, 1987.
Duarte’s troubles appeared to have begun in 1986. He was committed on July 30 that year for highway robbery, but was released less than three months later, on Oct. 22.
Noel Arda, killed Dec. 23:
Arda, of Lower Camputhaw, Cebu City, was shot dead 19 days after his 39th birthday. His criminal record at the BBRC contained at least four cases, two of them involving child abuse.
For both cases, he was jailed from March 26, 2002 to March 26, this year, but both were also provisionally dismissed.
His two other cases involved drugs. He did time in one case from March 4, 1993 to Aug. 8, 1996. For the other case, he was detained from June 27 to July 3, 1991, when he was released on recognizance.
Hector Mantilla, killed Dec. 24:
The 34-year-old resident of Pier 5, Cebu City had been sent to BBRC at least three times.
He was jailed from July 4, 1995 to May 21, 1996 for highway robbery, but that case was provisionally dismissed. A separate case for theft sent him to jail for about five months, from Aug. 17, 1993 to Jan. 21, 1994.
Three years before that, he was committed at the Cebu City Jail for theft, starting Feb. 23, 1990. He was discharged, on parole, on March 1, 1991.
Jomar David Caballes, killed Dec. 27:
Though only 19, Caballes had done time in BBRC at least twice. He was committed on Sept. 21 this year for robbery, but released last Nov. 23 after the provisional dismissal of his case.
He also served a sentence for theft, from Sept. 22 to Dec. 21, 2003
Jurie Basillote, shot Dec. 27 along with Caballes, but died the following day:
The 25-year-old Basillote, a resident of Bato, Carbon, had been jailed in BBRC at least three times: four months for theft in 2001; a little over two years for robbery, from Jan. 18, 1999 to Feb. 12, 2001; and four months for robbery, from Dec. 17, 1997 to March 3, 1998. That case was dismissed.
Rolando “Taberos” Taberon, killed Dec. 27:
Taberon, 30, listed two addresses: one in Jagobiao, Mandaue City and another on T. Padilla St., Cebu City.
But at least three times since 1996, he made his home inside the Cebu City jail. His latest commitment began on Jan. 11, 2000 and lasted until Aug. 9, 2002, when he was acquitted of direct assault, theft and concealment of a deadly weapon.
Before that, he was twice jailed for highway robbery, from May 20 to July 22, 1998 and from Dec. 11, 1996 to April 10, 1997. Both cases were dismissed.
Wilson Cabilao, killed Dec. 27:
Cabilao, 27, was killed at home in Villagonzalo II, Cebu City, in an attack that also hurt his six-year-old son.
The attack came eight months after he was released from BBRC, where he was detained from July 29, 2003 to April 14, 2004 for an attempted murder charge. His name was dropped from the case.
Before that, he had been sent to the BBRC at least seven times.
He was detained for murder, from Jan. 11, 2001 to Feb. 7, 2002, but the case was dismissed. He was also cleared of a highway robbery case, for which he was detained from Feb. 22, 1999 to March 16, 2000.
Cabilao was likewise cleared of robbery, after being detained eight months in 1993. An earlier theft case was also dismissed in 1996, but he had to stay seven days inside the BBRC.
He was convicted of highway robbery and served time from Oct. 2, 1995 to Feb. 15, 1996, when he was granted probation.
Two other cases of homicide (1994) and robbery (1993) were also provisionally dismissed. For these cases, he spent a total of 11 months behind bars.
Donald Aguirre Velez, killed Dec. 28:
Velez, of Guadalupe, Cebu City, was gunned down on his 36th birthday. He had been jailed at least four times since 2001.
He was detained from Nov. 12, 2001 to Jan. 7, 2002 on a drugs case, but was released on bail. Six months before that arrest, he was in jail for less than a week for theft, but was also released after putting up a bond.
Eleven months after his release in 2002, two more cases involving drugs again sent Velez behind bars from Dec. 2, 2002 to Dec. 5, 2003.
Henry Milagrosa, alias Boy Tigre, killed Dec. 29:
The 38-year-old resident of Barangay Ermita, Cebu City, had been sent to jail seven times since 1983 and was twice imprisoned at the National Bilibid Prison. He also bolted from jail once.
He was first committed on Dec. 2, 1983 in Cebu City for highway robbery, but escaped. He was again arrested on Oct. 12, 1984 and transferred to the National Bilibid Prison on Oct. 14, 1985.
He was convicted of robbery twice, the first time from Oct. 21, 1992 to March 13, 1993. He served part of his sentence in Bilibid. The second conviction kept him in jail from May 24 to June 26, 1989, when he was transferred to the Davao Penal Colony.
Between May 1997 and January 2002, he faced three drugs cases and was convicted to spend six months in jail for one case. He was out on bail for the other two charges.
His last case, for theft, sent him to jail on June 15, 2002, where he stayed until Jan. 15, 2003. (JST)
(December 30, 2004 issue)
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