Henry Yuson. -REY ANTHONY OSTRIA
A gunman in the killing of Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe last month and the driver of the motorcycle he rode to escape the scene are now in police custody and have tagged Daraga Mayor Carlwyn Baldo as the brains behind the murder.
Henry Yuson, a former militiaman and ex-member of the communist New People’s Army (NPA), surrendered to the Army’s 903rd Infantry Brigade in Sorsogon on Thursday night and admitted his role in Batocabe’s killing.
Yuson told Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Albayalde that one of the planners of the attack, former Army soldier Christopher Naval, had “betrayed” him by withholding the money they promised for the congressman’s assassination.
The motorcycle driver, former Army soldier Jaywin Babor, surrendered in Camp Crame, Quezon City, also on Thursday night following the filing of murder and frustrated murder charges against him, Yuson, Naval, Baldo and three others at the Albay provincial prosecutor’s office.
Naval and former militiaman Emmanuel Rosello, the driver of the other getaway motorcycle, have also been arrested.
Only Baldo, former NPA rebel Rolando Arimado, who was tagged as the other gunman, and former Army soldier Danilo Muella remain at large, Albayalde said.
Baldo on Thursday denied involvement, saying he was “a convenient scapegoat.”
Duterte threat
President Duterte on Thursday said he would slap a certain Albay town official if the official continued to threaten Batocabe’s wife or son.
“Just like when I went to Albay, I said, ‘You son of a bitch, if there is even one … If anyone runs, the relative, the wife or the son, do not … Because if you do, I will come here, son of a bitch, I will slap you right inside your municipal hall,” Mr. Duterte said without naming the local official, but could only be referring to Baldo.
At Friday’s press briefing in the Bureau of Fire Protection office in Camarines Sur, Albayalde said it was a just a matter of time before all the remaining suspects in the killing of Batocabe and his police bodyguard, SPO2 Orlando Diaz, were also arrested.
The attack also wounded seven bystanders at a Christmas event for the elderly in Daraga, Albay province.
Yuson, a native of Ligao, Albay, apologized to the family of Batocabe.
He admitted that he was hired to kill the party-list lawmaker in what was supposedly a P5-million hit job planned as early as August last year by Baldo, Muella and Naval, the former “team leader” of Yuson’s militia squad in the Visayas.
“I want to apologize to the Batocabe family because I was only ordered to kill Congressman Batocabe by [Baldo]. The three of them, including Tuping (Naval’s nickname) and Manoy Dan (Muella),” Yuson said in Filipino.
“Mayor Baldo wanted to sit permanently as mayor of Daraga. He promised us livelihood and that we would continue to receive income,” he added.
‘Not a peso’
Before his death, a survey showed Batocabe was leading the mayoral race in Daraga.
Albayalde earlier said the six other men charged with Baldo were employed as confidential staff under fictitious names at the office of the Daraga mayor. They all received a monthly compensation of P7,000.
“When I lost my job in the Visayas, I came back here [in Bicol] and was called up [by Naval] if I wanted to be part of the mayor’s security. I had nothing then, so I joined them,” Yuson said.
“I never saw a peso [of the payment]. Tuping was a Judas and he took the money,” he added.
Albayalde said Yuson had used an unlicensed .40-caliber pistol, which he later threw into a river.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, who joined Albayalde at the news conference, said Baldo refused to make the full payment of the P5 million because he may have “feared an investigation” if he withdrew such a “big amount” from the bank.
“The mayor supposedly told them, ‘If I withdraw such a big amount, I could face an investigation by the [Anti-Money Laundering Council].’ That’s why he did not pay up right away,” Año said.
Albayalde said the breakthrough in the case was triggered by the “pressure” the police and military had applied on one of Baldo’s former employees, ex-Army soldier Emmanuel Judavar.
At Thursday’s press conference, Albayalde said Judavar was part of the planning for the assassination of Batocabe but he later backed out.
“When this case blew up, he was contacted by intelligence operatives. He was given pictures of the gift-giving event [where Batocabe was killed] and he identified [Rosello] in the photos,” the PNP chief said.
Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday commended the PNP for identifying all the crime suspects, saying they must be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
But the murder charges filed against Baldo will not be enough to disqualify him from running for mayor anew in the May elections, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“A candidate cannot be disqualified on the basis of a criminal complaint alone,” said Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez in an interview. “There must be a final conviction for a candidate to be disqualified.” —WITH REPORTS FROM JULIE M. AURELIO, TINA SANTOS AND JEROME ANING