Suspect in Pitalo killing surrenders

CEBU, Philippines – The prime suspect in the killing of a 17-year-old man whose body was found in grassy area in Barangay Pitalo, San Fernando on Thursday evening surrendered yesterday morning to San Fernando police officers.

Dave Sayago, 35, a resident of Pitalo, was onboard a Trans-Asia Shipping Lines vessel from Masbate when his cousin informed the police officers of his surrender.

He was met by his relatives and police officers led by Police Inspector Carlos Reyes Jr. at Pier 5 in Cebu City.

Sayago went to Manila right after last Thursday's incident.

He admitted Joseph Dialagdon, who was found dead and covered with banana leaves on a grassy area with a hack wound in the head that reached his face.

Sayago claimed that Dialagdon burglarized their house but he forgave him.

"Ako siya giingnan dili na usbon," he said. (I told him not to do it again.)

But last Thursday, Sayago said he saw a man who was wearing a mask creeping behind their house. He called the man's attention but got no answer.

This is when he got a "Samurai" sword and went after the masked man who tried to flee. But Sayago was able to catch up and hacked the man in the head.

He said he went to a certain Crislin Parba to ask for help. When Parba noticed that the victim was still alive, she allegedly whipped the face of the victim with a belt.

Sayago told his father what he did two days after the incident. He wanted to flee and it was his family who convinced him to surrender.

A murder case was filed yesterday at the Provincial Fiscal's Office against the Sayago. Parba was excluded from the case because she was allegedly threatened and forced by the suspect to follow his orders.           

Meanwhile, in Lapu-Lapu City, not a single person went to the funeral parlor to claim the body of the German national who was found floating at the seawaters of Barangay Pajo last Monday morning.

The remains of Alfred Hugo Wolfgang, 52, is being preserved at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes along Junquera St. for an autopsy that may be conducted later.

Mario Esparcia, the funeral parlor's branch-in charge, said an autopsy would be conducted a week after if no one would claim his body.

Dr. Nestor Sator of the PNP-Crime Laboratory 7 will conduct the autopsy, Esparcia said.

Wolfgang was identified through the passport found in his pocket.

The police did not find a single wound on the body. He was wearing an orange polo shirt, black long pants, black leather shoes and a wristwatch. - Ria Mae Y. Booc and Niña G. Sumacot/JPM (FREEMAN)