Another suspect in German’s slay yields

LAS NIEVES, Agusan del Norte — Another suspect in the May 26 killing of a German national here, surrendered to authorities last Thursday, but admitted that they only wanted to rob him.

Police now have under their custody two suspects in the fatal stabbing of Norbert Schmitz, of Frankfurt, Germany, and are hunting two more.

Caraga police director Alberto Rama Olario said Cecilio Amores, 21, decided to give himself up upon the prodding of his friend, barangay tanod Antonio Logronio, whom he met in Tandag, Surigao del Sur last Monday.

All along, Amores wanted to surrender but feared that policemen might maltreat him. Logronio thus brought him to a radio station in Butuan City where elements of the regional Task Force Racer later fetched him.

Earlier, suspect Juanito Buron Pugahan, 20, also yielded to police authorities, saying his conscience had been bothering him.

Like Amores, Pugahan also claimed that he acted only as a lookout.

"We only wanted to rob him, not to kill him as what my companions did. I only served as a lookout and my conscience brought me here to surrender," investigators quoted Pugahan as saying.

Pugahan identified their two other cohorts as Rodel Gallardo Sahay and Romy Jandayan Buron, now both the subject of a police manhunt. — Ben Serrano