Key suspect in slay of 2 Chinoys in Cebu nabbed

CEBU CITY — A city police team arrested the suspected hit man in the killing of two Chinese-Filipino hardware store owners, in Zamboanga del Norte last Friday, three days after the incident.

The suspect, Rufino Alacre, 31, did not resist arrest when the police team, led by SPO3 Edmund Juico and PO3 Delfin Bontoyan, pounced on him in Barangay Lupasan, Manukan, Zamboanga del Norte.

Alacre’s did not only solve the killing of cousins John Clemens Go and Brian Go, but also unraveled the mystery behind the attempt on the life of 14-year-old Lloyd Carampatan, the lone witness to the killing of a tricycle driver in Busay allegedly by police officer Engelberto Durano, who remains a fugitive.

Carampatan saw a photo of Alacre as a suspect in the Gos’ murder and said he was the same man who tried to kill him.

Carampatan was supposedly under police protection when he was befriended by Alacre, who he introduced himself as Roy. Alacre invited the boy to go to a mall but allegedly shot him in the head along the way. The teener survived.

Durano allegedly hired Alacre to silence Carampatan.

But Alacre, a native of Tagcatong, Carmen, Agusan del Norte, denied involvement in both cases.

"Wala gyud ko kahibalo ana (I don’t know anything about that)," Alacre said, adding he was even surprised why he was tagged as the principal suspect in both cases.

Alacre said he learned that he was a suspect in the Gos’ murder from a news report of a local radio station in Zamboanga.

Alacre admitted worked before at the Filmon Hardware Showroom on Escario street where the Go cousins were murdered.

He claimed he was hired sometime in 1997 but was terminated after three years. Reports said he was hired as a forklift operator.

Alacre said he was in Zamboanga because his wife is a native of Barangay Lupasan in Manukan town.

John Clemens, 19, was found dead, his throat slashed, inside the stockroom of the hardware store. Brian, 28, who had a broken skull, died in the hospital.

Alacre reportedly had an accomplice in the attack.

John Clemens’ younger sisters Kathy, 17, and Karen, 12, were themselves mauled by the attackers.

Alacre also denied having tried to kill Carampatan.

He said he, together with his family, has been in Zamboanga since Dec. 7, and has never returned to Cebu ever since.

Meanwhile, Durano was formally charged for the slay attempt on Carampatan. Alacre was named a co-respondent, along with Indian national Ricky Singh, Jamili Gopar and Josephine Go.

Carampatan claimed that before he lost consciousness after being shot, he saw a gray car owned by Go, with Durano, Singh and Gopar laughing inside the vehicle. — Freeman News Service