Davao blast suspect yields, admits crime

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A member of the extremist group behind the Sept. 2 bombing in Davao City yielded to authorities yesterday and confessed his role in the atrocity.

Army spokesman Col. Benjamin Hao identified the suspect as Jerico Javier de Roma, alias “Kokoy,” 25, a resident of Mandanas compound here.

An alleged member of Dawlah Islamiyah Fi Lanao-Cotabato chapter, a terrorist cell of the Lanao-based Maute terror group, De Roma confessed that he was the driver of the group that bombed the Davao night market.

The blast left 15 civilians dead and 70 others wounded.

“He surrendered because he started feeling the pressure of the security forces already closing in on him,” Hao said.

Major Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., commander of Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID), also acknowledged the “non-uniformed public executives helping the national government address Islamic militancy in this part of the country.”

Four of De Roma’s companions – Mohammad Chenikandiyil, Jackson Usi, Zack Lopez and Ansan Mamasapano – were arrested here on Oct. 29 by operatives of the 6th ID and the police with the help of local officials.

Three of their accomplices implicated in the bombing – TJ Macabalang, Wendel Facturan and Musali Ampatuan – were nabbed here last Oct. 6 by joint Army and police intelligence operatives.

De Roma was accompanied by his elders to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, after police and military operatives searched their house here.