Bacolod massacre suspect falls

BACOLOD CITY – The lone suspect in the brutal killings of six members of a prominent haciendero family here and two of their housemaids was finally arrested yesterday, 11 days after the massacre, police said.

Twenty-year-old Bemon Gallo was nabbed by combined elements of the Bacolod police and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) at 3:30 a.m. in his aunt’s house in the remote village of Tabunan in Sagay City, 82.9 kilometers north of this city. Tabunan is a fishpond community.

Gallo hid in a closet when policemen swooped down on his aunt’s house. Found in his possession were receipts dated Dec. 18 and 24 from the Alex Jewelry and Pawnshop in Sagay City for jewelry worth P20,000, and several items, including a rosary, believed taken from the residence of the Rivilla family, who employed him as a houseboy.

Western Visayas police director Julius Yarcia said initial investigation showed the motive behind the massacre was revenge and that robbery was only incidental.

Gallo, presented to the media yesterday, publicly admitted having killed, using a hammer and a scythe, sugarmill owner Carlos Rivilla Jr. 76; wife, Florinda, 75; son Benrico, 42; grandsons Mark Anthony, 13, Guillermo Benrico Jr., 11, and John Michael, 9; and helpers Dolores Ogatis and Ritchel Gonzales inside the Rivilla residence last Dec. 17.

The Rivilla family owns the Ormoc Sugar Central in Leyte.

Gallo was presented to local reporters at the Bacolod police headquarters by Yarcia, Superintendent Amado Marquez, head of Task Force Rivilla; and Senior Inspector Jacob Macabali, PAOCTF-Negros head.

Yarcia quoted Gallo as recalling that he and Benrico were having a drinking session in the garage the night before the murders, and that Benrico struck him with a beer bottle when he accidentally dropped a glass. Gallo got hold of the hammer and hit Benrico on the head.

Still quoting Gallo, Yarcia said Benrico ran to the bedroom apparently to get his gun, but Gallo followed him and finished him off in front of his three sons who were awakened by the commotion.

Gallo told police he lost his senses and killed the three children, then stripped them of their clothes in an attempt to clean up the crime scene.

But Macabali said Gallo continued his killing spree, attacking Ogatis who was in the dirty kitchen preparing breakfast, then Gonzales at the maid’s quarters, and Carlos Rivilla in the kitchen. The Rivilla matriarch Florinda was the last one slain.

Gallo told police he attacked Benrico at about 2 a.m., and it took him about three hours to kill all eight victims.

Gallo said he waited for Carla Rivilla, Benrico’s niece, who, however, failed to come home from a school retreat. It was the Rivillas’ driver, Rudy Alfonso, who arrived, and Gallo attacked him. Though wounded, Alfonso managed to escape and seek help from the security guards at the Cojuangcos’ house across the street.

After the killings, Gallo said he made writings on the wall with the victims’ blood accusing Benrico of murder and victimizing women, a move, police said, was apparently aimed to mislead investigators.

Police were set to file charges of robbery, multiple murder and illegal possession of firearms against Gallo yesterday afternoon. – With Christina Mendez