Stabbing spree suspect, victims end up at same hospital

MANILA, Philippines - A man who figured in a stabbing spree in Malabon was arrested by a police officer yesterday when his victims saw him enter the emergency room of a Manila hospital where they were being treated.

Police Officer 3 Rommel Habig arrested maintenance man Carlo Ibo, 21, a resident of Barangay 8, Caloocan City, while trying to flee from the Tondo General Hospital in Manila.

Ibo, with three unidentified men, reportedly attacked neighbors Johnny Libot, 18, and John Idol Leongson, 18, in Barangay Tonsuya, Malabon as their attacker.

Habig said prior to the stabbing, the victims were having a conversation along P. Aquino street in Tonsuya when Ibo and his group arrived. Without provocation, the group started beating them up. When the two fought back, Ibo allegedly drew an ice pick and swung at the victims.

Libot suffered wounds in the left arm, in the right side of the head and in the abdomen while Leongson took two stab wounds in the back. The two were taken by concerned residents to the Tondo General Hospital in Manila as the suspect and his companions fled the crime scene.

About an hour later, the victims spotted Ibo and an unidentified companion at the emergency room of the hospital and pointed him to Habig as their assailant.

A commotion ensued as Habig, who was investigating the incident, chased Ibo and his companion. A hospital guard caught Ibo while the other man escaped. Habig then handcuffed the suspect and took him to jail.

The suspect, when asked to explain his presence at the same hospital where his victims were taken, claimed he simply accompanied a wounded companion for treatment without knowing that Libot and Leongson were taken there earlier. He said he thought his victims were taken to another hospital.

Habig said two counts of frustrated murder were filed against Ibo before the City Prosecutor’s Office yesterday. Assistant City Prosecutor Jimmy Edmund Batara recommended P200,000 bail for each count.