Suspects in killing of 2 men arrested

CEBU, Philippines - The police have arrested two of at least five men who killed two civilians whose body were found placed in sacks and dumped in the mountain barangay of Taptap, Cebu City last Maundy Thursday.

The suspects, Walberto Librando and Rolando Adolfo, 49, were arrested in subsequent operations by the City Intelligence Branch of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) last Tuesday.

Chief Insp. Romeo Santander said Librando was arrested for possessing an unlicensed .357 revolver at the vicinity of Barangay Basak-Pardo at 1 p.m. last Tuesday. Two hours later, Adolfo was arrested for the same offense at his house in Barangay Mambaling.

The two were tagged as suspects behind the hacking to death of Glenn Parawan, 32, and his 17-year-old cousin Manuel Edgardo Parawan III.

Santander said they have been placing the suspects under surveillance before they got arrested. Last Tuesday, they spotted the suspects in plain view carrying firearms.

“Noted na man gud na sila nga magbitbit og armas,” Santander said.

Santander said they will recommend to the court to make Librando as a state witness after disclosing information to the police about the gruesome murder of the victims.

Led by CCPO Director Melvin Ramon Buenafe himself, the police, along with Librando, held a reenactment of the incident from the time the victims were abducted at a mall in Fuente Osmeña that afternoon, killed in the evening, and then dumped in Taptap.

Librando admitted that he was among those who abducted the victims. He said he was guarding a house in Sambag 2 that day when a man, who was one of those who later hacked the victims to death, told him to accompany him somewhere. He complied.

He said he was then guarding the house of his employer, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the Parawan murder, as a shooting incident had just taken place in there the previous day which killed their ally, Waldemar Pacis.

He said he was forced to accompany the group towards Barangay Taptap where he witnessed how the man, and Adolfo, hacked the victims, while two other men also watched and interrogated the victims.

The victims were reportedly mistaken to be in cahoots with their cousin Cloyd Arias who shot Pacis dead. They hailed from Danao City and were at the Cebu City that time to supposedly visit Arias at the jail when they were abducted and killed.

“Minghawa na ko kay wan-a ko ganahi magtan-aw kay murag sobra na ilang gibuhat na pagpatay sa duha,” Librando said. (I left them, not wanting to look at how they killed the two.)

Buenafe said once the suspect becomes a state witness, they will make him avail of the Witness Protection Program, including his family, for safety.

The CCPO director said the reenactment was done to confirm the allegations of Librando whom they consider as a vital witness.

“Very candid and spontaneous iyang mga storya. Dako jud unya siya og tabang aning kaso,” he said.

Adolfo, on the other hand, vehemently denied the allegations.

He and his wife said he was staying at the house whole day when the murder happened. He said he could not possibly kill the two as his hands were damaged because he got electrocuted last year.

Santander said they are now preparing for the filing of a case for double murder against the two. — (FREEMAN)