2 suspects in abduction of Iloilo teen surrender

Two brothers tagged as the masterminds in the abduction of a 13-year-old son of a Chinese-Filipino trader in Iloilo City surrendered to authorities yesterday morning.

Suspects Jonathan and Eugene Poblacion, residents of La Paz district in Iloilo City, gave themselves up to Rep. Raul Gonzales supposedly to clear their names in connection with the kidnapping of Jefferson Tan, a high school freshman at the Iloilo Chinese Commercial High School.

Tan was freed in the city’s Mandurriao district last Wednesday, eight days after he was abducted. Police belied reports that a P3-million ransom was paid.

The kidnappers initially demanded P50 million but later reduced it to P10 million.

Prior to the surrender of the Poblacion brothers, their mother Gloria told Aksyon Radyo Iloilo that her sons would yield to belie allegations that they hatched the abduction.

Last June, the Poblacions were presented to the media as suspects in a robbery in an Iloilo town last May 31 and in the 1999 heist at Kepel Monte Bank.

Just hours after Tan was released, police arrested six suspects, identified as Marlon Soriosa, Ely Bernales, Alfredo Acallar, Lenefer Dabuco, Jefty Sarmiento and Julie Lapasaran, a former policeman.

Five other suspects were nabbed last Thursday and Friday.

Police are hunting down the other suspects.