NBP escapee captured, says Go paid P2 million

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – A murder convict, who escaped from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) hours after Rolito Go resurfaced from an alleged kidnapping, was recaptured in Isabela yesterday.

Go and three other Chinese-Filipinos were set loose by NBP guards for P2 million.

Rommel Laciste said one of the three Filipino-Chinese was a big-time drug trafficker. He said Go and his companions, together with him, rode on a container van out of the NBP.

Laciste said he learned of the alleged payoff minutes after they got out of the NBP or before they parted ways somewhere in Baclaran, Parañaque.

Senior Superintendent Franklin Mabanag, Isabela police director, said Laciste was recaptured at around 10:30 a.m. in Surcoc village in Naguilian, Isabela following days of manhunt.

Mabanag said they have yet to verify Laciste’s claim, including the three other Filipino-Chinese inmates.

He said Laciste could have made up the story to cover up his own escape.

Laciste was briefly sighted on Aug. 16 in his hometown of San Mariano – specifically in the barangays of Palutan and Filomena - located on the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, whose office has jurisdiction over the NBP, deployed a five-man team from the Bureau of Corrections, to coordinate with the Isabela police for Laciste’s recapture.

Laciste was supposedly discovered missing on Aug. 15, hours after Go resurfaced and alleged that unidentified men kidnapped him.

“His (Laciste’s) recapture was a result of coordinated efforts among police units in the province. Everybody had been ordered to be on the lookout for him, especially after we received reports that he was still in the province,” said Mabanag.

Laciste was convicted for the murder of Isabela assistant provincial probation officer Concepcion Lumanglas in 2006.

Even before the Lumanglas slay, there were reports that Laciste had had a string of criminal cases.

He was first arrested in Diadi, Nueva Vizcaya after residents reported his killing of a tricycle driver whom he had hired in Santiago City while escaping following Lumanglas’ slay.

Laciste bolted the Isabela provincial jail but was recaptured and eventually transferred to the NBP following his conviction in 2008.