Eighteen-year-old Nicolo Paulo Quizon and an unidentified younger brother are facing murder and frustrated murder charges at the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
According to court records, Quizon and his brother allegedly attacked Joel Tulabot and friends Rolando Ibañez and Julius Ibañez on Dec. 19 last year while they were waiting for a ride at the corner of Alcaraza and Banawe streets in Quezon City.
The three had just left their shop to attend Simbang Gabi (Christmas midnight mass).
The three fled but Quizon and his brother caught up with Tulabot and allegedly stabbed repeatedly. After his attackers had left, Tulabot managed to make it to the shop to get help. His co-workers rushed him to Jose Reyes Hospital in Manila but he died along the way.
Senior Superintendent Ireneo Inal said Judge Elsa de Guzman of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court had issued an arrest warrant on Quizon but Tulabot’s family had difficulty getting help from the police to have the teenager arrested.
Finally, the victim’s family went to the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
"The parents of the victim asked for assistance from our office and furnished us a copy of the warrant of arrest. They had already approached several police officers for assistance but could not get the suspect arrested probably because he comes from a prominent family," Inal told The STAR.
Inal said Quizon was tracked down and found yesterday in a drug rehabilitation center in Taguig City. He didn’t resist arrest.
PNP chief Director General Oscar Calderon presented Quizon to reporters at press forum shortly after the arrest. Quizon refused to make any comment. Court records showed, however, that he and his brother had denied the charges. – With Myleth Kathleen Dalisay