Bank rob suspect lays blame on Tining anew

One of the 11 men allegedly involved in the Land Bank robbery in Bogo town last August 2 has come out to again insist that it was Bogo Mayor Celestino "Tining" Martinez who masterminded the robbery.

Joel Somabong who claimed to be a member of the "Mayor's Squad" of Tining yesterday granted an interview to an ABS-CBN reporter in one of the mountain barangays here in Cebu City.

His companion, Dindo Ancero, another suspect in the robbery, was the one who guided Ramil Ayuman of ABS-CBN to his location.

Somabong, in an ABS-CBN report yesterday said he had no choice but to make the confession after he received reports of a P1 million bounty for anyone who can kill him.

Somabong yesterday said his participation in the robbery last August was as a lookout. The heist was allegedly headed by a certain Boy Tagalog and SPO2 Mario Cuerda, son of a certain Felix Cuerda, allegedly a former trusted man of the Martinezes.

Somabong, who also claimed to be a former NPA rebel, showed some receipts to prove that it was the municipal government who paid for their food when they were still in the planning stage of robbing the bank.

He also said there was a plan to kill provincial police director Vicente Loot and his wife Daanbantayan Mayor Luisa Loot, but failed to show the orders that allegedly came via text message.

He plans to surrender to the police on Monday.

Tining's father Celestino "Junnie" Martinez II, said Somabong's statements were all fabricated.

He said his family has even made moves to protect the economy of the town and even called on the manager of the Land Bank and managers of other establishments to a meeting to discuss on how to protect their businesses.

Junnie also said he cannot remember Somabong being one of their men and often referred to him as "Lumabong" when he made his statements.

Junnie also denied any plan to kill the Loot couple, describing the whole controversy as a cheap political gimmick against Tining who will be running for Congress in the forthcoming elections.

It was Somabong's second confession as he earlier gave authorities a video compact disk that contained a similar admission - Flor Z. Perolina