Manhunt on for coed’s slay suspect

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — Police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are jointly hunting down the prime suspect in the 2004 killing of a Philippine Women’s University (PWU) coed who escaped from his security escorts after attending a court hearing in Biñan town last Wednesday afternoon.

Special Investigator Joel Otic of the NBI’s Reaction, Arrest and Interdiction Division, said a combined police-NBI team was formed to track down suspect Gilbert Ronquillo, 36.

Ronquillo, who allegedly belonged to the "Sputnik Gang," was tagged as the one who gunned down 22-year-old PWU student Jaimarie Reyes on Oct. 10, 2004, based on the statements of two of his friends who had turned state witnesses.

Ronquillo, together with Aldrin Balgos, Jansen Malitic, Ma. Cecilia Mercado, Ruben Seyritan, Bienvenido Nicdao, and Pedro Pablo Jr., was arrested while they were cannibalizing Reyes’ car in Padre Garcia, Batangas three days after the killing.

However, Nicdao and Pablo turned state witnesses against Ronquillo, who was initially detained at the Batangas provincial jail and later transferred to the Laguna provincial jail.

Superintendent Ceasar Perez, Laguna provincial jail warden, said Ronquillo escaped from his escorts after a hearing in the Biñan regional trial court (RTC) at about 5 p.m. last Wednesday.

Perez said Ronquillo’s lawyer, Manuel Satuito, wanted to talk to his client, prompting Jail Officer 1 Harvey Ramos to remove Ronquillo’s handcuffs.

After that brief talk, Ronquillo went to the comfort room, accompanied by Ramos. But after relieving himself, Ronquillo sought Ramos’ permission if he could ride on his girlfriend’s car so they could be together for a while.

Ramos acceded, and Ronquillo hastily boarded his girlfriend’s pink Toyota Corolla parked in front of the RTC building. To Ramos’ surprise, the couple sped away.

Reyes’ bullet-riddled body was found along the South Luzon Expressway on Oct. 10, 2004, hours after she was reported missing.

Reyes’ family last saw her on the night of Oct. 9 when she left their home in San Pablo City aboard her black Honda Civic en route to her boarding house in Malate, Manila.

Four days later, police found her car being stripped of its parts in Barangay Payapa in Padre Garcia, Batangas by Ronquillo’s group.

Ronquillo, a son of a Los Baños resort owner, was said to be an avid suitor of Reyes who, however, spurned him.

In his sworn statement, Nicdao recounted that he and Ronquillo tailed Reyes along Libis ng Nayon in Los Baños, and blocked her path after passing a tollgate in Barangay Pulo, where Ronquillo shot her several times with a 9-mm Ingram machine pistol.

Reyes’ mother Marina Bathan and stepfather Eligio Bathan expressed disappointment at the laxity on the jail officers escorting Ronquillo.

"Noon kampante kami nang nasa loob siya ng bilangguan pero ngayon kinakabahan na kami kasi baka kung anong gawin pa sa amin ngayong nakalalaya siya (We had peace of mind when he was in jail; now we are nervous because he might do something now that he is out)," Mrs. Bathan said.