Suspect in mayor’s slay sends surrender feelers

A former policeman tagged as the killer of Batangas mayor Sixto Vergara has sent surrender feelers to the Philippine National Police, the chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said yesterday.

Director Nestorio Gualberto said the suspect, Lorenzo Tolentino, has relayed his intention to give himself up to Superintendent Maximo Malabanan, the CIDG’s Southern Tagalog chief.

Vergara’s family has pinpointed Tolentino as the one who gunned down the mayor of Lian town in front of the latter’s house last Monday morning.

Malabanan, according to Gualberto, received a phone call from Tolentino yesterday morning.

But Gualberto said he has dispatched two teams to track down Tolentino who is believed to be hiding in Metro Manila.

"The suspect may have sent surrender feelers but the two CIDG teams remain focused on searching for him," he said.

Vergara’s wife Pacita and daughters Maria and Suzette have positively identified Tolentino, a dismissed Lian policeman, as the killer.

Vergara, 48, died from two bullet wounds in the chest and leg.

Reports said Tolentino was a volunteer campaigner of Vergara when he ran for re-election in last year’s elections.

Senior Inspector Francisco Ebreo, Lian police chief, has described Tolentino as a "troublesome policeman," having been involved in the killing of a Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) member years ago and even going berserk in a Lian police station sometime in the early 1990s.

Investigators are still establishing Tolentino’s motive for killing Vergara.

Reports, however, said that Tolentino had solicited the mayor’s help in the unsolved killing of his brother Raul last year.