9th most wanted man surrenders in Kalinga

CAMP MELCHOR DE LA CRUZ, Gamu, Isabela — The military formally presented here yesterday the country’s ninth most wanted person following his surrender in Kalinga last Dec. 16.

Efren Ventura, alias Ben Ventura, who carried a bounty of P750,000, was presented by officials of the Army’s 5th Infantry Division led by Col. Hilario Atendido.

Ventura’s surrender, according to Atendido, was facilitated by elements of the Army’s 45th Infantry Battalion based in Kalinga and the Cagayan Valley and Cordillera police, who even picked him up from his safehouse in a remote Kalinga village.

Atendido said Ventura, who has pending cases of robbery-in-band, car theft and homicide, yielded his fully loaded M-16 Armalite rifle.

Besides military and police personnel, the Army said Ventura’s surrender was also witnessed by local officials and church workers, whom Ventura said were instrumental in his decision to give himself up and live a peaceful life with his family.

Ventura had been tagged as the most wanted man in the Ilocos and Cordillera regions.

A native of Sadanga, Mountain Province, Ventura was later formally turned over to the Cordillera police to face his pending cases in the Baguio City regional trial court.