Manero yields, raps slow pace of his case

DAVAO CITY — Norberto Manero Jr. claimed he’s "happy to be back" in detention and said he finally surrendered yesterday upon the prodding of his wife.

The priest-killer turned himself in more than two weeks after bolting the Sarangani Provincial Jail.

Rejecting supposed demands for Manero’s surrender, Palace officials said Manero will now have to face additional charges for bolting jail aside from the double-murder charges still pending against him.

Manero surrendered at 8:45 a.m. to Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza in a remote barangay in Polomolok, South Cotabato following negotiations for the terms of his surrender.

Manero, detained for the 1977 killing of brothers Ali and Mambawatan Mamalumpong, escaped the Sarangani jail on March 22 allegedly with the help of his common law wife Julie Yee.

Manero admitted that the slow resolution of the Mamalumpong case had forced him to bolt jail but he was eventually pressured to surrender by his relatives and friends.

"I was pressured by Julie and my friends to surrender and I am happy I am back," Manero told reporters in Visayan in a brief interview at the General Santos airport.

The escapee also denied reports that politics had something to do with his escape.

"Politics has nothing to do with it. It was plain disappointment over the pace of my case," he said in Visayan.

Manero reportedly had four demands he wanted to ask from the government in exchange for his surrender, including the "restoration" of the 1999 pardon.

Later yesterday, Manero was flown by military helicopter to Buayan airport in General Santos City before he was flown to Zamboanga City and brought to the Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) headquarters.

Dureza said the convict was questioned by Southcom chief Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling and would stay overnight at the Southcom headquarters.

He is expected to be presented today to President Arroyo, who is scheduled to confer with military officials here and in Sulu where she has ordered an assault against Abu Sayyaf bandits.

After he is presented to the President, Manero will supposedly be brought to the Davao penal colony in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte, a jail from which he also escaped in 1992.

He and seven others were captured and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for the 1985 killing of Italian priest Tullio Favali.

In 1998, former President Fidel Ramos commuted his life sentence to 12 years although he had successfully escaped the Davao penal colony in May 1992. This second escape was not announced until after several months.

In December 1999, disgraced former President Joseph Estrada also "unwittingly" granted him conditional pardon but one of the conditions of his pardon was that there were no outstanding warrants of arrest against him.

It turned out that there was an outstanding warrant for the 1977 Mamalumpong brothers killing which had not been resolved and was only tabled in 1981 after Manero staged his first escape from military custodians.

After the justice department discovered the outstanding warrant of arrest, Estrada recalled his pardon but Manero had again fled in February last year.

But he surrendered a few days later and was locked up in the Sarangani jail until his third escape last month.

Manero actually wanted to surrender one week after he escaped but it was delayed after his lawyer Tony Falgui withdrew from the case, Falgui was replaced by lawyer Victor Garcia.

Government mulls more charges vs Manero

But presidential chief of staff Renato Corona said tolerating Manero’s behavior would undermine the criminal justice system and send a wrong signal to criminals and prison inmates alike.

"We have a process in place for prisoner escapes," Corona said. "The warden has to be answerable. There is also a crime called ‘evasion of sentences’. This is punishable under the Revised Penal Code."

He, however, did not explain why Manero was entitled to an audience with the President instead of being brought straight to jail.

Corona also stressed the Department of Justice (DOJ) will press its investigation against the Sarangani jail officials who have been held liable for Manero’s escape.

"I think the DOJ will do it because it’s standard operating procedure to investigate who was responsible, how it happened," he added.

Corona also dismissed Manero’s reasons for bolting jail.

"It’s hard to believe his reasons," Corona said. "Perhaps he was right in his own view but if all escapees use this excuse, then all these prisoners will just escape from their jails."

"If he has nothing to hide, he should not have escaped prison and (should have) faced his cases," he said.

Corona conceded that it is possible Manero’s trial may really have been unduly slow but quickly added that this is part of due process and applies to everyone under detention.

"I believe all prisoners are similarly situated. If he uses that as an excuse, it means all these prisoners have a right to escape," he said, adding that other problems, like lack of prosecutors, judges and other court personnel, can also affect the pace of a trial.

Corona likewise did not reveal what measures would be taken to ensure that Manero would not be able to escape jail again as he did in three earlier instances.

But according to Davao Penal Colony officials, security has been tightened and is prepared to welcome back its former resident.

The penal colony houses over 1,000 inmates and has a long history of jailbreaks, including a March 1998 incident where nine inmates were killed after they took prison officials hostage. – With Marichu Villanueva