A Manila court has sentenced to as many as 17 years in jail a holdup man who desperately dove into a stinking estero six years ago to escape lawmen, only to find out moments later that his pursuers were idly waiting for him when he finally surfaced for air.
Butch Laguyo was found guilty of robbery with serious physical injuries by Judge Perfecto Laguio of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 along with Burnan Baguilan for the June 14, 1995 supermart robbery on Hidalgo street, Quiapo, Manila. Their accomplice was shot dead by responding cops while Laguyo and Baguilan were wounded in a shootout with the police.
Adding to Laguyo’s woes was the fact that Baguilan was acquitted of the additional charge of illegal possession of firearms, while he was convicted, as police managed to recover his caliber .45 pistol which he had left at the bottom of the slimy creek. The lawmen recovered the firearm by hiring a boy to retrieve it for them.
Prior to the shootout, Laguyo, Banguilan, and their unidentified cohort shot the store guard on their way in and shot him thrice more on their way out, when they found him weakly crawling on the pavement. The group carted away the supermart’s cash register containing P1,000.
Fortunately, the guard survived the four bullets.
Policemen from a nearby police station responded to the source of the successive gunshots and encountered the escaping trio. Baguilan was wounded and captured in the initial volley of gunfire while Laguyo was later hit in the leg.
Wounded, tired, and his third companion already dead in the running gunbattle, Laguyo decided to jump into the cesspool thinking he had not been seen.
According to Laguio’s five page decision, "the police simply waited for him to surface for air and then they arrested him."– Jose Aravilla