Four Laguna massacre suspects surrender

BATANGAS — "We are not involved in the massacre, and we are not in hiding."

Ronaldo Amarante, 28, and his siblings Rolando, 27; Renato, 24; and Rosemari, 21, stressed this as they gave themselves up to police upon learning that they were being hunted for the killing of their 83-year-old grandfather Mauro, aunts Alicia and Corazon, and cousin Luisito, 29.

The four victims were gunned down by four ski mask-wearing men inside their home in Cabuyao, Laguna last Monday.

The Amarante siblings surrendered to Superintendent Fausto Manzanilla, chief of the 402nd Police Mobile Group in Batangas.

Ronaldo, the elder Amarante’s eldest grandson, said they were surprised to learn that he and his three siblings were being tagged as suspects in the massacre.

"Hindi kami nagtatago sa pulis. Sa katunayan, nagtatago kami sa mga armadong kalalakihan na pumatay sa aming mga kamag-anak. Natatakot kami na baka kami ang isunod nila (We are not hiding from the police. In fact, we are hiding from the armed men who killed our relatives. We fear that they would go after us)," Ronaldo said.

Ronaldo admitted that his family had had differences with their lolo over the ownership of a 2.3-hectare land.

"Galit kami sa aming lolo pero hindi namin kayang magpapatay ng tao. Kung ibinibintang nila na umupa kami ng papatay sa kanya, mali sila at wala kaming pambayad sa mga gun-for hire (We are angry at our lolo but we cannot afford to have him killed. If they say that we hired someone to kill him, they are wrong, and we don’t have the money to pay guns-for-hire)," he said.

Ronaldo, however, accused his grandfather of having a hand in the killings of his uncle Florencio del Mundo, and mother Agatona this year.

His mother and uncle, he said, continued the court case over the 2.3-hectare land after his father Liberato died of a natural cause in 1996.

Motorcycle-riding men gunned down Agatona in front of their house in Cabuyao last March 18, and Del Mundo at the Uniwide parking lot, also in Cabuyao, a month later.