Two more suspects in Carcar rape-slay case?

Authorities are pursuing two more suspects in the rape-slay of the 13-year-old girl in Carcar town two weeks ago.

Cebu provincial police chief Vicente Loot said that the new suspects, including the witness, are deemed accessories to the crime while the victim's father, Maximo Laputan, and his brother Concordio remain to be the primary suspects.

Maximo and Concordio have already been charged in court for the rape and murder of Maylen after the witness, Ronie Tabura, pinpointed them as the culprits.

Loot, however, admitted that they would work for the inclusion of Tabura on the list of suspects following his admission to the investigators of the Commission on Human Rights that he too raped the victim. Loot said that they are just trying to iron out legal issues before they could implicate Tabura in the case based on his confession.

Loot refused to reveal the identity of the other suspect, saying only that they are now in the process of looking into his participation in the crime because Tabura has not mentioned his name.

Loot said informants can attest to the involvement of the suspect.

Tabura remains under the custody of the Carcar police. The police however are working to use him as a state witness against the Laputan brothers. Tabura earlier claimed that Maximo and Concordio were the ones who raped and killed Maylen in the evening of September 6 in Sitio Kamang-Kamang, barangay Ocaña.

But the Laputan brothers vehemently denied Tabura's allegations. Maximo said he was in their house while Concordio claimed that he was in Cebu City driving a jeepney at the time of the incident.

The brothers instead accused Tabura of perpetrating the crime and challenged the witness to take a lie detector test with the National Bureau of Investigation. - Fred P. Languido