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Police arrest suspect in slay case
First posted 11:29pm (Mla time) Dec 14, 2005
By Dona Z. Pazzibugan
Inquirer
http://news.inq7.net/metro/index.php?index=1&story_id=59988
Editor's Note: Published on Page A23 of the December 15, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
ANOTHER SUSPECT IN THE TORTURE and murder of University of Santo Tomas (UST) engineering student Mark Welson Chua in 2001 has been arrested by the police.
Eduardo Tabrilla, 25, was arrested late last month while hiding in the house of a relative in Paliparan II, Dasmariñas, Cavite.
He was presented to the media yesterday at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame.
Chief Supt. Ismael Rafanan, chief of the PNP Intelligence Group, said they had withheld the news of Tabrilla’s arrest so that he could lead them to the whereabouts of two other suspects, Joseph Tan and Michael Von Rainard Manangbao, who remain at large.
The first suspect to be arrested, Arnulfo Aparri Jr., was convicted for Chua’s murder in March 2004 and sentenced to death.
Chua had exposed corruption in the UST’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) where he was a cadet. His body, which bore torture marks, was found floating in the Pasig River on March 18, 2001.
The four suspects were also UST ROTC cadets
“I would like to thank God Almighty. We waited four years for justice,” the victim’s father, Welson Chua, said during the news conference.
“It will be a great Christmas gift if we would not be made to wait four more years for justice,” his wife, Amelita, added.
According to Rafanan, Manangbao is believed to be hiding in the United States while Tan is said to have escaped to Malaysia.
“We have touched base with our counterparts (in the US and Malaysia) to know their whereabouts,” the police official said.
The elder Chua, meanwhile, apologized to former ROTC commandant, Maj. Demy Tejares, for accusing him of involvement in his son’s murder.
“I would like to apologize if I caused him pain. I am sure he understands the agony of a father who has lost his son,” he said.
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