No bail for ex-Cebu policeman

CEBU CITY — The court has denied a petition by a former policeman charged for the 2000 murder of a tricycle driver, to post bail, citing his having gone into hiding after an arrest warrant was issued against him.

Regional Trial Court Judge Olegario Sarmiento said the fact that former policeman Engelberto Durano went into hiding "is a circumstance highly indicative of his guilt."

Durano is being tried for the killing of tricycle driver Rogelio Bacalso on Dec. 22, 2000. He went into hiding before the arrest warrant dated March 6, 2001 could have been served.

He was arrested on Aug. 8 last year as he was about to board a plane for Bacolod City at the Manila Domestic Airport.

Durano is also implicated in the 2001 kidnapping of 11-year-old Ryan James Yu and in the slay attempt on Lloyd Carampatan, a witness in the Bacalso murder. — Freeman News Service