Laguna bank robbery-slay suspect yields to Verzosa

A suspect in the killing of nine employees and a client of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. branch in Cabuyao, Laguna during a robbery last May 16 has surrendered to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa.

Verzosa received the suspect, Jake Javier, from Commission on Human Rights chief Leila de Lima, who sought Javier’s protection after he signified his intention to become a witness to the alleged police rubout of three other suspects, including his father Vivencio.

Verzosa said Javier will still be treated as a suspect since he has a pending warrant of arrest issued by Judge Marino Rubio of the Regional Trial Court Branch 24 of Biñan, Laguna for his alleged involvement in the robbery-slay.

During their meeting, De Lima appealed to Verzosa that Javier be placed under the custody of the PNP national headquarters after members of Task Force RCBC attempted to arrest him on Wednesday.

Javier has been under CHR custody since June, as he feared for his life after his father and three others were killed in an alleged rubout.

Police, however, said there was a shootout as they conducted a follow-up operation to arrest the suspects in the RCBC heist.

Aside from Javier’s father, the CHR ruled that Angelito Malabanan, Rolando Lachicha and Pepito Magsino were wrongly accused and were killed in an alleged police rubout.