At the hospital: Mayoralty bet, wanted for murder, eludes cops

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — A mayoralty candidate in a town in Capiz province, charged for murder, successfully evaded arrest after running off from policemen who were about to serve his arrest warrant Sunday at a hospital in this city.

Leodegario Labao, who was tagged in the killing of Vice Mayor Abel Martinez of Mambusao, Capiz on May 4, last year, was scheduled for an angiogram at the St. Paul’s Hospital in this city yesterday (April 15), but before his scheduled test, police were tipped off Sunday morning of Labao’s presence in the hospital.

Members of the Police Regional Office-6’s Intelligence Division went to the hospital at around 11 a.m. but Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz, Jr., director of PRO-6, said the hospital administrator and a lawyer asked policemen to wait for a while and calmly served the arrest warrant so as not to disturb the other patients.

“We heeded their request. But when were to serve the arrest warrant, Labao was already nowhere to be found,” Cruz told The Freeman.

Footage from the hospital’s CCTV camera later showed that policemen waited at the hospital’s Medical ICU at around 1:47 p.m. but by 2:04 p.m., two men and a woman were seen aiding Labao in leaving the hospital through a backdoor. They passed through the main entrance of the building and boarded a nondescript red Hyundai Getz (FFH-746).

Based on hospital records, Labao was confined since April 10 at a regular room but, at the request of one of his attending physicians, he was transferred to MICU.

“We will investigate if we could press charges against the hospital management. They could be liable for obstruction of justice and/or harboring or abetting a fugitive of the law,” Cruz said.

Last Saturday, Geger Francisco, another suspect in Martinez’s killing was arrested in Quezon City. He was nabbed at Katipunan Avenue corner Aurora Boulevard, Loyola Heights in Cubao by the members of the Special Task Force of the Criminal Investigation Division of the PNP Intelligence Group, said Cruz.

A warrant of arrest for murder with no bail recommended was issued against Labao, Francisco and three other suspects last April 10 by Judge Daniel Antonio Gerardo Amular of the Regional Trial Court-6, Branch 21.

The other suspects in the killing of Martinez were already arrested earlier: Roger Loredo is now detained at the Iloilo Provincial Integrated Jail; Staff Sgt. Rommel Pamotillo of the Philippine Army has been in military custody; and Sonny Danid surrendered to police authorities last Thursday. (FREEMAN)