Friday, August 10, 2007

Madhu slay suspect recaptured 3 days after escape

Police recaptured Indonesian priest Franciskus Madhu slay suspect Acmor Bonggawon three days after he escaped on the same day he was first taken in.

S/Supt. Severino Cruz, Kalinga police provincial director, reported to the local media that police operatives nabbed Bonggawon anew at around 8 a.m. of Aug. 8 at Barangay Ipil.

Cruz added that Bonggawon is now committed to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology at Brgy. Bulanao.

Kalinga police reported earlier that Bonggawon, 25, single, jobless and a resident of Soto, Agbannawag was arrested at Sitio Mansanita, Barangay Ipil early morning of Aug. 5 but escaped from custody on the night of the same day.

Bonggawon is one of three suspects in the Palm Sunday killing of Fr. Madhu, 30 who was about to start mass in an elementary school in Mabongtot, Lubuagan at around 5:30 p.m. when a man accompanied by two others shot him to death with an M-16 rifle.

The shooter was identified by the police as Nestor Wailan, married, farmer and resident of Dugnac, Lubuagan. His companions were also identified: Bonggawon and a certain Joel Awingan. To date, Wailan and Awingan remain free despite a standing warrant for their arrest and a reward of P500,000 for the capture of each from the Indonesian government.

Previously under hot water for the escape of Bonggawon, Cruz declined to offer any details regrading Bonggawon's recapture except to say that it was made possible through tips given by police assets.

The local media, however, learned that relatives of one of Bonggawon's police escort when he made his escape were the ones who tipped off the police on the suspect's whereabouts. It was learned that the policeman belongs to the Mabongtot tribe to which Bonggawon also belongs.

Cruz told the media earlier that Bonggawon had escaped while his guards changed a busted light bulb inside his detention cell. He claimed further that his men had tried to chase the suspect but failed to catch him on account of the darkness.

Based on initial reports by S/Insp. Bobbly Glen Ganipac, Provincial Mobile Group chief, who led the arresting team composed of PMG men, Agbannawag barangay captain Apolinario Masadao and tanods of the same barangay, Bonggawon was arrested in Sitio Mansanita, Ipil at around 5 a.m. of Aug. 5.

Kalinga police likewise reported that Bonggawon is a member of a newly organized crime group engaged in cattle-rustling, robbery and hold-up operating in Kalinga.

The arresting officers were armed with a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Marcelino Wacas, executive judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 25 in connection with Criminal Case 47-2007 for the murder of Fr. Madhu, assistant parish priest of the Roman Catholic Church in Lubuagan. **Bani Asbucan


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