NBI: Hunger made Cedric surrender

Cedric Lee (left) and Simeon Palma arrive at the NBI office in matching shirts. RAFFY LERMA

MANILA, Philippines—Businessman Cedric Lee and his coaccused mixed martial arts expert Simeon Palma (Zimmer Raz) had “no other choice but to surrender because they were hungry, exhausted and lacked the means to survive,” a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) official said on Monday.

NBI Deputy Director Rafael Ragos told reporters in a briefing that the pair voluntarily gave themselves up after a “massive manhunt” was launched for their capture.

According to him, the two men were first spotted on Friday at the Japitan Beach Resort in Dolores, Eastern Samar.

“They immediately fled from the resort when they detected the presence of the law enforcement officers,” Ragos added.

The pair went to another beach resort in Oras town, about 15 kilometers away from Dolores, where they surrendered the next day to a team composed of officers from the NBI Eastern Visayas Regional Office, Samar District Office, Anti-Fraud Division, the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Samar police.

Lee, meanwhile, told media men that he and Palma ran away from policemen in Dolores town because they thought that they were members of the New People’s Army.

Fearing for their lives, they boarded a boat that went to a nearby island. From there, he immediately called his lawyer whom he instructed to talk to the NBI about their surrender.

Palma, on the other hand, said that he traveled to Samar before Holy Week for a business transaction.

According to investigators, they learned of the pair’s whereabouts through their cell phones which were equipped with a global positioning system, or GPS, a navigation tool which could pinpoint the location of an object.

Ragos also said that residents in the areas visited by Lee and Raz also helped authorities as the two men stood out as they were traveling in a sport utility vehicle, an Isuzu Alterra with plate number ZES 989.

“One can easily notice that they were city boys and not from the area,” the deputy director noted as he described the two men as “gwapo,” or good-looking.

Operatives from NBI Eastern Samar said they were gathering information on the beach resort owner and other individuals who could have helped the two fugitives.

The two men were escorted back to Manila on Sunday morning. They were taken to the NBI headquarters in Manila where they are currently detained.

Lee and Palma, however, said they were able to sleep soundly and that they easily made friends with other inmates.

The two who are staying with about 100 detainees face cases of serious illegal detention and grave coercion filed by actor and TV host Vhong Navarro.

According to Navarro, Lee, Palma and five other people beat him up and accused him of raping model Deniece Cornejo, who is also one of those charged. The TV host said he was set up so that he would be forced to give P2 million to Lee.

Ragos said the pair would remain in their custody until the Taguig court handling their case decides where they should be jailed. Serious illegal detention is a nonbailable offense.

Meanwhile, a Department of Justice prosecutor on Monday gave Lee 10 more days to submit his reply to the P194.47-million tax evasion complaint filed against him by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Assistant State Prosecutor Stewart Allan Mariano told reporters that Lee and his lawyer asked for more time to prepare his counteraffidavit as he has just surrendered to authorities.

Mariano said he gave Lee until May 8, adding that BIR lawyers failed to make it to the preliminary investigation after they were caught in heavy traffic due to the arrival of US President Barack Obama in Manila.

The BIR sued Lee, his company Izumo Contractors Inc. and other company officials for failing to pay taxes worth P194.47 million between 2006 and 2009.—With a report from Jerome Aning

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