Suspect in bizman slay surrendered

The suspect in the shooting of a 45-year-old volunteer of a nongovernment organization in Cebu City surrendered to the police in Dumaguete Monday, 18 days after the incident.

Nelson Ubas, 21, a security guard at a convenience store on Colon Street, Cebu City, admitted that he was tailing Michael Malacca as the latter went out the store and then shot him outside a motel along P. Lopez Street, Cebu City dawn of May 5.

Ubas, however, claimed he was only defending himself when he fired at Malacca twice.

Ubas said Malacca allegedly threatened to shoot him twice while Ubas was conducting a roving inspection at the store, which lost up to P6,000 to shoplifting.

Malacca succumbed to gunshot wounds to his face and back and died on the spot. He was a volunteer of Regional Emergency Assistance Communications Team (REACT) and a businessman from Zamboanga del Norte.

The suspect said Malacca was under the influence of alcohol when he threatened and verbally harassed him.

He said the victim, who occasionally visited the store, also bullied him by nit-picking over his job.

He said that what clouded his judgment was because of the consecutive threats he received from the victim. He denied being influenced by any form of illegal-drugs.

“Tungod pud sa iya pagkabully sa akong trabaho. Sige siya og panghilabot, kung mag-roving ko… moaksyon siya og pulis nako, ako nakuyawan kay dako ra ba siya,” Ubas said.

Ubas asked for forgiveness from the family of the victim. “Nabuhat na man nako ang krimen ako na lang atubangon ang akong nabuhat gyud. Mi-surrender ko aron maluwas pud ko ba,” Ubas told The FREEMAN.

Ubas was transported back to Cebu City Tuesday and is now temporarily detained at the Cebu City Police Office. Murder charges have already been filed against him.

The suspect’s mother, 45-year-old Basilia Ubas, was earlier apprehended on May 8 by the personnel of the Cebu City Police Office Homicide Section for allegedly helping her son elude arrest.

But Basilia, a resident of Ginatilan town in southern Cebu, was released on the same day after posting a bail of P12,000. The case for obstruction of justice filed against her is still pending before the prosecutor’s office.

Prior to the escape, Basilia and some of her relatives allegedly contributed cash for Nelson’s personal consumption.

In an earlier interview, Basilia denied covering her son’s crime or giving him cash.

The suspect clarified that he was not assisted by any family member, particularly his mother, and escaped on his own accord. In fact, he said his family urged him to surrender “for his own benefit.”

After the crime, Nelson said he threw his firearm to a trash dump near the South Bus Terminal, then changed his clothes.

He said he had been traveling from one place to another after he went to Lapu-Lapu City and to his hometown, Ginatilan. He had been to Bacolod, Manila, and Dumaguete.

Mae Clydyl L. Avila/KBQ