Drug lord operating in prison tagged brains in pastor’s slay

BENJIE de la Cerna (foreground), who allegedly drove the motorcycle used in the killing of Baptist pastor Crisostomo Maternal Jr., is locked up inside the Cebu City police jail after surrendering. LITO TECSON/CEBU DAILY NEWS

CEBU CITY—A prime suspect in the murder here of a Baptist pastor has pointed to a supposed drug lord operating behind bars at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa as the brains behind the plot to kill the church leader for his antidrug crusade.

Gary Daclan, who was arrested by police on Tuesday, admitted his involvement in the plot to murder Crisostomo Maternal Jr., a Baptist pastor and antidrug crusader.

Daclan said Maternal, who is also a political ally of incoming Mayor Tomas Osmeña, was killed because of his active campaign against the drug trade in the city.

“I always see him (Maternal) hanging around with soldiers,” said Daclan. “We were anxious that he might have asked the soldiers to arrest us,” the arrested suspect told reporters.

Days before his killing, Maternal went with soldiers to the village of Bonbon to take part in Brigada Eskwela, a volunteerism project of the Department of Education to clean up and prepare classrooms for school opening.

Daclan said as part of the plot to kill Maternal, he contacted the head of the drug syndicate that he belongs to, a certain Ramil Bonghanoy, who is jailed at the NBP.

“Our boss (Bonghanoy) instructed me to have the pastor killed, so I looked for a gunman,” said Daclan.

Daclan said he paid P30,000 to the hired gun.

According to police, Daclan is a level two pusher who has at his disposal at least 200 grams of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) a week.

After Daclan’s arrest, the driver of the motorcycle used in the killing of Maternal, identified as Benjie de la Cerna, surrendered to the city police’s intelligence branch.

De la Cerna said he was convinced by relatives to surrender if he wanted to stay alive as he is already being hunted by police.

“I really feared for my life,” De la Cerna said in an interview.

De la Cerna’s fear is not baseless as Osmeña has offered cash rewards of up to P50,000 for dead criminals.

Senior Insp. Elisandro Quijano, head of the city police’s homicide section, said police already know the identity of the gunman in the killing of Maternal but he declined to divulge it pending the gunman’s arrest.

A murder charge would be filed against Daclan and De la Cerna at the city prosecutor’s office.

Quijano said the two men had executed extrajudicial confessions to make formal their admission of involvement in Maternal’s killing.

“Both admitted participation in the crime,” said Quijano. “It’s up to the prosecutor to consider them as state witnesses,” he said.

Supt. George Ylanan, deputy director for operation of the city police, said Maternal’s murder is an isolated case but advised other antidrug advocates to coordinate with police for their security.

“Having a personal crusade against illegal drugs is really risky,” he said.

Osmeña said policemen who arrested Daclan, though, are not entitled to cash rewards.

The suspect, said Osmeña, “is alive.”

“He’s still standing. He doesn’t even have a scratch on his body,” said Osmeña.

After winning the mayoral race, Osmeña had already given cash rewards to three batches of policemen. The third group to get the reward is the police team that raided the hideout of suspected drug lord Rowen Secretaria in Banacon Island in Getafe town, Bohol province, and killed Secretaria.

The third group received P155,000 in cash from Osmeña.

Maternal was on his way home in the mountain village of Bonbon aboard his motorcycle when two motorcycle-riding men shot him.
Maternal was hit in the temple. The 46-year-old pastor was rushed to the Perpetual Succor Hospital here where he was declared dead.