4 suspects in activist bishop’s killing arrested

Police said yesterday they have solved last Tuesday’s killing of Aglipayan Bishop Alberto Ramento with the arrest of four suspects said to belong to a robbery group operating in Tarlac City.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Calderon said the arrest of the four suspects proved that the case was "plain and simple robbery" and "should not be considered to be politically motivated."

"We respect the statement of the family of (Ramento) but it is our duty as police officers to present the case based on evidence," he said.

Calderon was reacting to suspicions by Ramento’s family and militant groups that the 69-year-old bishop could have been killed for being an outspoken critic of the Arroyo administration.

Ramento, who chaired the supreme council of bishops of Iglesia Filipinas Independiente, was the Tarlac president of the human rights group Karapatan.

Calderon presented to the media the four suspects: Michael Viado, the alleged leader of the so-called "Magic" robbery gang; and his henchmen Michael Quitalig, Raymon Perez, and Joel Villanueva.

Police said Viado was pinpointed by the three other suspects as the one who fatally stabbed Ramento in last Tuesday’s robbery inside the Aglipayan Cathedral in Tarlac City.

Police said Viado and Villanueva were both on probation for pending cases of frustrated murder and theft, respectively, while Quitalig was released from the Tarlac jail last July on a theft case.

Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, Tarlac police director, said the gang members hatched their plan to rob Ramento after seeing him during a feeding project for school children.

"(They probably thought) that he had a lot of money," he said.

Bartolome said the gang called itself "Magic" after the local Magic Star mall where it had committed petty crimes like shoplifting and snatching cellular phones.

Superintendent Rudy Lacadin, Tarlac City police chief, said the gang has 30 members, many of them remnants of the so-called "Dagis Palengke," a group of teenagers who had preyed on marketgoers.

Police said the breakthrough in the case came after Quitalig’s parents tipped off authorities on his role in the killing.

"Evidence gathered, including the (bishop’s) ring and DVD player (that were retrieved) from the suspects, indicates that the case was robbery with homicide and it was incidental that the victim was Bishop Ramento," Lacadin said.

Bartolome said Quitalig confessed his participation in the crime and escorted the police in arresting Villanueva and Perez.

Police found in Villanueva’s possession the VCD player stolen from Ramento’s room last Sept. 11.

Another robbery took place last Sept. 23, but Aglipayan officials never reported both incidents to the police.

Based on documents seized from the suspects, the gang’s next target was a residence in San Isidro, Tarlac.

Viado, who was arrested at 9 a.m. yesterday, led police to a pawnshop where Ramento’s ring was recovered.

The arrest of the four suspects came as the Ecumenical Bishops Forum called for swift justice for Ramento.

"The killing of Bishop Ramento is the dawn of a new resolve to fight for justice and peace. His death is the birth of a quickened determination to sweep away the paragons of hypocrisy and the harbingers of misery and human deprivation in this country," it said in a statement. — With Edu Punay