Rolito Go. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
So Rolito Go was telling the truth after all.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Monday announced that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has in its custody two of the alleged kidnappers of the high-profile convict.
In a text message, De Lima said one of the suspects was arrested by the NBI based on a warrant he was facing for car theft while the other voluntarily gave himself up to authorities.
De Lima identified the two as Armando Mondero and Jerry Duenas.
“Both [suspects] executed affidavits subscribed before a Department of Justice prosecutor. The NBI filed a case with the DOJ [against 10 men for kidnapping] last November 5,” she added.
A source at the NBI, however, identified the suspects as Mondero, a former inmate of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) who was released earlier this year, and Police Officer 2 Emerson “Bong” Malate Guazon, a member of the Presidential Police National Police Security Force Unit, which is assigned at Malacañang. The unit is tasked to provide assistance and support to the Presidential Security Group.
Mondero, who fell into the hands of the NBI based on a tip given by an informant, is detained at the bureau following his arrest in Commonwealth, Quezon City.
Guazon, on the other hand, is in the custody of the National Capital Regional Police Office, said the source who asked not to be identified for lack of authority to speak to media.
Go and his nephew, Clemence Yu, went missing inside the NBP in Muntinlupa City last August, initially sparking fears that he may have escaped.
But his relatives and later Go himself insisted that he and his nephew were forcibly taken out of the compound and taken to a safe house in Batangas province by a group of men who demanded a ransom in exchange for their freedom.
They were later set free after they gave P60,000 to their abductors.
The source said that the suspects—who were charged with kidnapping by the NBI on November 5 in the DOJ—were positively identified by Go and his nephew.
He added that both were part of a group whose leader was identified as Emilio Ortiz, a resident of Capitol Subdivision in Caloocan City.
Ortiz, the source said, was in the billboard construction business. The other members of the gang were Lawrence Yurong, Fernando Francisco and a certain Gerry. All remain at large.
Originally posted: 6:15 pm | Monday, November 12th, 2012