Go victim’s brod tagged in Bilibid kidnap

MANILA, Philippines - A brother of a De La Salle University (DLSU) student killed by Rolito Go in 1991 was implicated in his alleged kidnapping from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) last August.

Go’s lawyer, Claire Castro, said suspect Armando Mondero identified Elliot Maguan from a photograph as the person who reportedly dealt directly with the alleged financier of the kidnapping, engineer Emilio Ortiz, during a preliminary investigation hearing at the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday.

Elliot is a younger brother of Eldon Maguan, the DLSU engineering student shot dead by Go in 1991 after a traffic altercation in Greenhills, San Juan.

“The respondent saw this person talking to Engr. Ortiz, one of the respondents in this case,” she said in an interview after the closed-door hearing while holding the photo of Elliot.

Castro said Elliot will be summoned by the investigating DOJ fiscal in the next hearing on Jan. 8 next year at 2 p.m.

The Maguan family laughed off the allegation that they had a hand in Go’s alleged kidnapping.

“Is he crazy? Why should you kidnap a convicted murderer? What will it gain us?” Grace Maguan, Eldon’s sister, said when asked to comment on the accusation.

She said the allegation is a product of the suspect’s “wild imagination.”

Mondero, who surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation last month, claimed in his affidavit that he recalled Ortiz talking to a certain “Magbuan.” Days after, he said he saw Elliot during their meeting with Ortiz where the abduction was supposedly planned.

A sketch of Elliot, prepared by the NBI based on Mondero’s description, was submitted to the fiscal during the hearing.

“If he is really involved here, we will be surprised thinking of a possible motive he has in kidnapping Mr. Go,” Castro said, noting that it was neither Go nor his family that linked Elliot to the kidnapping.

Mondero is applying to become state witness in the case. The other arrested suspect, Jerry Duenas, also attended the hearing. He was arrested by virtue of a warrant for a separate car theft case.

Ortiz and seven other respondents remain at large.

Go was allegedly kidnapped by four men from the Ina ng Awa Parish Church at the minimum security compound of the NBP last Aug. 14.