Gino slay suspect linked to Nueva Ecija jail guard killing?

SAN MATEO, Isabela — A self-confessed "look-out" in the abduction of Rodolfo "Gino" Padilla, half-brother of action star Robin Padilla, is also a suspect in the killing of a Nueva Ecija jail guard, police here disclosed.

Chief Inspector Ryenaldo Sinaon Jr., this town’s police chief, said that the Nueva Ecija police also tagged Catalino Mercado, one of the suspects in Gino’s killing, as responsible for the killing of a provincial jail guard of Nueva Ecija during a jailbreak in Oct. 21, 1989.

According to a document obtained by police here, Mercado escaped from the Nueva Ecija provincial jail during the jailbreak while serving a life sentence for robbery in band and rape. Sinaon said Mercado also confessed to him that he was a one-time "bodyguard" of Nueva Ecija officials including former Rep. (now Presidential Assistant for Northern Luzon) Renato Diaz during his years as fugitive from the law.

Mercado, a former resident of Cabanatuan City, Sinaon said, migrated here following the 1989 jailbreak. He was arrested by Sinaon’s men in the house of his cousin, Felino Roque, in Barangay Daraungan Norte here last June 7 by virtue of a warrant of arrest in connection with another case.

During police interrogation, Roque, who incidentally is a police asset, squealed Mercado’s participation in Gino’s abduction. An affidavit of Mercado shows he indeed admitted participation in the abduction of Gino.

Mercado, who claimed he acted only as "look-out," in turn, implicated Roque in his six-page affidavit dated April 22 wherein he (Roque) with five others, were the ones who actually entered and seized Gino inside his farmhouse in Barangay Bibiclat in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija on March 8.

The San Mateo police obtained a copy of Mercado’s affidavit from the National Bureau of Investigation in Cabanatuan City following his arrest here for involvement in "robbery in band" in the province.

Mercado’s affidavit tagged the uncles of Eva Cariño, Robin’s mother, as the brains behind Gino’s abduction and killing. He claimed that brothers Crispin, Wilson and Gil Cariño hired their services to get Gino and his mother for P400,000.

Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Dominador Resos Jr., Cagayan Valley police director, ordered Isabela police to obtain more information on Mercado’s alleged link to Gino’s killing.

Mercado’s confession, Resos said, could lead to the early solution of Gino’s case. — Charlie Lagasca