‘Hired killer’ yields, says he wants to change

SAYING he wants to start a new life, an alleged gunman and robber gave himself up voluntarily to the Cebu City Intelligence Branch (CIB) to face the crimes he allegedly committed.

Raymart “Ermac” Conahap, 26, was allegedly a hired killer and had been involved in a strings of robbery and holdup incidents since 2008.

Conahap said he was also scared of his safety when President-elect Rodrigo Duterte assumes office on June 30.

“Gusto na siya magbago. Nahadlok sad siya kay kaila siya nako (He wanted to change. He said he was also afraid because he knows me),” said Supt. Michael Michael Bastes, CIB chief.

Bastes said that he knew Conahap’s name for a long time because he was still a patrol officer when he first arrested the suspect.

Conahap was rescued by Bastes when he was 15-year-old for snatching valuables from passengers in the jeepney that ply the Carreta route.

Last year, Conahap allegedly gunned down Rowen Lobitaña, his neighbor in Sitio Ponce, Barangay Carreta.

Conahap said he killed Lobitaña because he was allegedly compelled to do the crime by his neighbors. Lobitaña allegedly walked around the neighborhood brandishing a high-pow- ered firearm, scaring residents there.

Conahap said he decided to surrender to Bastes at 4 p.m. last Wednesday because he trusted the CIB chief to undertand his situation.

Conahap said his wife and his five children also convinced him to surrender after they learned that a warrant of arrest has been issued against him last May 19.

Bastes, for his part, said Conahap was very elusive and that the police official had chased him at least 50 times during snatching incidents.

“When he was still young, this man regularly does crime and we always chase him in Carreta,” said Bastes.

Conahap denied any involvement in the illegal drugs as well as on the allegation that he is a gunman, but he admitted killing Lobitaña.

In Guizo, Mandaue City, a man died, while two other persons were wounded when three unidentified assailants shot them last Wednesday afternoon.

The Mandaue Police Station 1 said they already have the names of the potential suspects, who are also from Guizo.

Ramsy Dequilla, 30, who lived in Sitio Santa Cruz, Guizo, died after he suffered a gunshot wound in his right chest, when one of the suspects shot him on F.B. Cabahug St. past 3:50 p.m.

Bryan Roldan, 21, and Roda Guinto, 58, were also injured when they happened to pass by the area.

Shortly before the shooting happened, one of the culprits allegedly took a photo of Dequilla using a smartphone, said PO1 Montzheimer Pireagido of Police Station 1.

When Dequilla noticed it, he approached the man that resulted in an fistfight.

Pireagido said one of the suspects tried to pacify the fight, but the other suspect got hold of a firearm and shot Dequilla several times. The two passersby were also hit.

Dequilla was taken to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City but he died on the way there.

Roldan, who lives in Santa Cruz, was taken to the Mandaue City Hospital for a gunshot wound in the right shoulder.

Guinto, a resident of Sitio Sudlon in Guizo, was wounded in her pelvic area and was rushed to University of Cebu Medical Center.

Police are looking into a personal grudge as a possible motive in the attack.

PO3 Marino Lofranco, investigator of Police Station 1, said they have identified the possible suspects because Dequilla had once reported some persons who are involved in illegal drugs in Guizo. JOB/