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Saturday, January 20, 2007
'Bank robber' falls in Iloilo
By Karlon N. Rama
With Mia E. Abellana
CEBU CITY -- Cebu City's police force is digging up a robbery case filed against suspects Joel Sumabong and Efren Beladas, to make sure they stay behind bars longer.
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The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 arrested Sumabong and Beladas last Thursday in Iloilo City, ending a manhunt that began last year after Sumabong was charged with murder.
The two also stand accused of robbing a bank in Bogo, Cebu in 2005.
"Although robbery is a bailable offense, we don't want them to have an easy time looking for money to post bail. At least, mahihirapan naman sila (we can give them a hard time)," said Theft and Robbery (TRS) Section Chief Alexis Relado.
The TRS chief said the two are also wanted for the robbery pulled on the Cebu Multi-purpose Cooperative in Talamban, Cebu City and that charges were already filed against them.
Sumabong, however, also faces a murder case for which no bail is allowed.
Sumabong didn't speak much during the press conference Friday at the NBI headquarters in Cebu City. In an interview at his cell, he admitted feeling bad that he got charged with murder, when his extra-judicial confession revealed the alleged mastermind behind the Land Bank robbery in August 2005.
Lawyer Rameses Villagonzalo, who represents Sumabong in the robbery case, said they will continue to pursue efforts to make Sumabong a government witness.
Sumabong, in a confession 11 months ago, had linked a Cebuano politician to the bank robbery, a charge the politician swiftly denied.
In hiding
Now the details of Sumabong and Beladas' arrest can safely be told.
Six agents from the Central Visayas office of the NBI arrested Sumabong last Thursday in a dawn raid on a farm in San Andres, a hinterland barangay of San Rafael town in Iloilo.
Sumabong, captured in possession of a 12-gauge shotgun, didn't fight back but attempted to run from the operatives, who came supported by town policemen and agents of the NBI in Iloilo.
He was arrested with Beladas, who was taken into custody armed with a handgun. They had lived together in a hut owned by Beladas' mother.
"Deadly force could have been justified because he was armed. Thankfully, things didn't escalate to that," said lawyer Medardo de Lemos, the NBI Central Visayas chief, in a press conference Friday morning.
Sumabong is a suspect in the P9.4-million Land Bank of the Philippines-Bogo robbery two years ago.
He is also a self-confessed ex-member of the New People's Army who allegedly worked as the chief hitman of a politico from one of Cebu's northern towns.
He surrendered after getting charged in the August 2, 2005 robbery and, in an extra-judicial confession dated Feb. 6, 2006, linked Bogo Mayor Celestino Martinez III to the robbery and a separate murder incident.
Confession
The confession was executed on the assumption that he could serve as a government witness against Martinez.
Instead, it resulted in the filing of the murder charge against him, Beladas, and Rufino Versaga Jr. instead.
Sumabong paid bail for the robbery case and stuck around for the hearings but, after the non-bailable murder case reached the court, promptly disappeared.
The warrant, signed by Judge Antonio Marigumen of the Bogo Regional Trial Court, led to Thursday's arrest was for the murder case.
Mayor Martinez, for his part, denied both allegations and was never charged. He said the allegations against him were part of a politically motivated smear campaign.
Meanwhile, lawyer Leilani Villarino is concerned about Sumabong's security.
Villarino represents Sumabong in the murder case. She visited the NBI headquarters Friday afternoon upon his request.
"We knew that the resolution filing the criminal case against him before the RTC was already out and assumed that a warrant would follow. I wanted him to surrender but he didn't want to because he knew there would be no bail. Plus, he is innocent," Villarino said.
She said she hadn't seen Sumabong since July last year.
Murder
The murder case against Sumabong stemmed from the affidavit-complaint filed by Imelda Tepait and her 11-year-old son, over the death of the late Alberto Tepait.
Tepait was killed last May 28, 2005 while inside his home.
The boy, in his affidavit, claimed to have seen Sumabong hiding in a grove of trees during the shooting. When called to the Bogo PNP Station last February 23, the boy recognized Sumabong immediately.
Imelda, in a separate affidavit, said that Versaga, her cousin's husband, carried out the killing. Versaga, she said, tried to get her to pay him P10,000 as indemnification.
Imelda and the late Alfredo had a spat a few days before his murder.
Sumabong and Beladas submitted a counter-affidavit at the height of the preliminary investigation of the murder case.
"The very basis of this complaint is my extra-judicial confession I made on Feb. 6, 2006 after I voluntarily surrendered but a careful perusal of my nine-page CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) affidavit would show that it was the group of Boy Tagalog who killed the victim," Sumabong said.
Long trip
He quoted a portion of the affidavit: "And the last one was Albert Tepait, killed also by the group of Boy Tagalog, upon the instruction of Mayor Tining."
He admitted, though, that he had "personal knowledge" of the killing, saying: "I was around when the plan was hatched."
De Lemos, in a separate interview, said that the NBI's involvement was simply to effect Sumabong and Beladas' arrest.
"Our sources placed them in the location so we set out to implement their court-ordered capture," he said.
The agents left the NBI headquarters early Wednesday morning and proceeded to the Iloilo NBI office. At 2 a.m. the following day, they set out for San Rafael, which is about two hours away from Iloilo City, and proceeded to Sitio Ibo of Barangay San Andres.
They arrived around 5 a.m.
The agents surrounded the hut pointed to them by their informant but Sumabong, who heard the agents approach, clambered down and tried to hide among some trees.
Unfortunately for him, the town's policemen set up a block that Sumabong ran towards, leading to his capture.
Sun.Star Cebu knew of the operation but withheld publication upon de Lemos' request.
Tight budget
The concern was that premature disclosure would jeopardize the lives of the six agents who, while enjoying tactical support during the actual arrest, were all alone in transporting Sumabong and Beladas back to Cebu City.
As for the Cebu City police, Relado admitted that he and Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau Chief Pablo Labra II were planning to launch operations in Iloilo to arrest the two.
A tight budget led them to decide to wait for the second warrant to be issued.
They also thought Sumabong had gone to Masbate, although they knew Beladas' mother was from San Rafael town, a third-class municipality some 78 kilometers away from Iloilo City.
Relado explained that it would have been a waste of funds if they launched an out-of-town operation without being sure where their target was.
"To arrest one guy who would only post bail afterwards would have been an expensive operation," Relado told reporters in Tagalog.
He also said the arrest was a result of inter-agency cooperation. (Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (January 20, 2007 issue)
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