Narc Tulod Delemios —LYN RILLON
The man tagged as the primary suspect in two killings—including that of a model Grab driver—has yet to be recaptured despite the deployment of two recovery teams following his escape from the Pasay City Jail on Aug. 14.
Senior Insp. Orlando Alicante, deputy jail warden, said that Narc Tulod Delemios was last spotted at Barangay Baclaran in the city last week.
Bystanders confirmed that they had seen the suspect several times in the neighborhood after officials described him.
Alicante added that the recovery teams composed of nine jail officers believed that the 26-year-old Delemios had not strayed far from the border of Pasay and Parañaque, where he grew up.
The recovery teams were also finding it hard to move around Don Carlos in Pasay City, where he used to live.
Notorious nesting place
“When they go to the area at night, the streets are narrow and it’s a notorious nesting place for people unafraid to die or kill,” Alicante said.
He added, however, that there had been no reports of new crimes committed by Delemios since his escape.
The fugitive escaped by taking advantage of the jail’s dilapidated condition. He clawed his way out through the ceiling of a stockroom on the fourth floor, before jumping on the roof of the adjacent City University of Pasay, Alicante said.
Five custodial officers and the day officer who were on duty when Delemios broke out had been charged in the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office with neglect of duty, the Inquirer learned.
In the wake of the suspect’s disappearance, the jail management repaired the hole in the ceiling and lined the roof with barbed wire to prevent more escapes.
They were also studying a proposal to replace the steel matting that lined the ceiling—which Delemios had managed to break through—with a stronger iron product, Alicante said.
Multiple cases
The fugitive is facing cases of car theft and robbery with homicide for the killing of Grab driver Gerardo Maquidato Jr. in October 2017. He is also a suspect in the killing of 19-year-old Gino Balbuena in 2014. Balbuena’s mother, Gaillee, had described the jailing of Delemios last year as a “Christmas gift to our family from God.”
Maquidato, who had been named one of Grab’s best driver-partners after he gave a sickly passenger a free ride, was found dead in Pasay City with a gunshot wound in the head.
Balbuena, on the other hand, was shot dead by the suspect after the victim accidentally hit him with an elbow while they were playing basketball.