Man claims he helped Rolito Go escape kidnappers

MANILA, Philippines - A man who claimed he had helped murder convict Rolito Go and his nephew escape from their kidnappers in August surrendered yesterday.

Reynaldo Tadtad said he turned himself in to Director Leonardo Espina, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, after he noticed that armed men have been tailing him daily in Sto. Tomas, Batangas.

Espina handed Tadtad over to the custody of the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has its own set of suspects in Go’s kidnapping, including a former policeman, whom it charged in court.

According to Tadtad, he owns the rest house where Go and his nephew, Clemence Yu, were brought by four armed men last August. He identified them as a certain Jay-R, Jerry, Roland and another who was wearing a mask.

Go is a high-profile inmate convicted for the road rage murder of De La Salle University engineering student Eldon Maguan in Greenhills, San Juan City in 1991.

Go and Yu were first reported missing from the New Bilibid Prison compound in Muntinlupa City at about 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 14.

Go’s family told Justice Secretary Leila de Lima that he was kidnapped and his abductors were demanding P1 million for his release.

In his rest house in Sto. Tomas, Tadtad said he saw Go and Yu being beaten and threatened by the man wearing a mask. He said Go was beaten even more when he tried to pull the mask off the face of the unidentified man. He said the suspects guarded Go and Yu on a 24-hour basis.

Tadtad claimed he accidentally heard the suspects planning to kill Go, prompting him to devise a plan to help him and Yu escape.

Tadtad helped Go and Yu cross a river until they reached a highway where they were able to take a ride going to Manila. He also provided them with P500 for their transportation expenses.

After the incident, he resumed living a normal life and has not talked to his friend, Roland, since.

When he noticed armed men casing his house, Tadtad decided to surrender.

Tadtad sought the assistance of Romulo Latayan, village watchman of San Vicente town; Sto. Tomas town Vice Mayor Armeneus Silva and Councilor Caloy Mabilangan; and Senior Superintendent Danilo Maligalig, operations chief of the Eastern Police District, who escorted him to Espina.