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| Vol. XX No. 45 |
January 17, 2001 |
Virac, Catanduanes |
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The Catanduanes Tribune Rawis, Virac Catanduanes, Philippines - 5001 Tel. No.: (052) 811-1267 or 811-2640 Fax No.: (052) 811-1267 E-mail:
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Publisher-Editor Edwin A. Gianan |
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Advertising- Circulation Manager Simeon G. Cueno |
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Web Master: Calgary, Canada |
Major Developments
"Praning" slain in hostage drama
The paranoid life of a 42-year old man was cut short by two bullets in the head the other Monday after Virac police decided to end a nearly hour-long hostage thriller in a poblacion barangay, the first ever in Catanduanes.
Rogelio Templonuevo y Arcilla, separated from his wife and a resident of Baras town temporarily staying in Gogon Sirangan, was declared dead on arrival at the Eastern Bicol Medical Center where he was brought by policemen the other Monday evening (January 8) along with his erstwhile captive.
A perusal of the blotter shows that Templonuevo first came to the authorities' notice when he went to the Virac police station at 12:40 P.M. of January 6. He complained that, while resting at a room of the JC Brake Bonding Shop, he overheard the voices of couple Ines and Sammy delos Santos. The man allegedly said, "Kung gusto mo, tirahin ko ini," while the wife replied," Sige, putukan mo na."
Two days later at about 2 A.M. of January 8, Constantino barangay kagawad Jose Beo and Eustaqio Ariate, Jr. arrested Templonuevo for forcibly entering the Ariate residence without the owner's consent and knowledge at 1 A.M. Policemen who received custody of Templonuevo noted that his left eyebrow was bleeding from a slight wound and released the man in good condition 12 hours later at two o'clock in the afternoon.
At about 4:40 P.M. that day, one Sherwin Valeza of barangay Tibang called Virac police and informed that a man wearing a striped T-shirt and armed with a bolo was running after passersby. Immediately, SPO1 Guillermo Tria, PO2 Lino Obias, PO2 Whelming Escaro and PO1 Arlan Sevilla went to the barangay and handcuffed Templonuevo, who asked that he be turned over to his sister Edna Conde of Salvacion.
Twenty minutes later, the same lawmen received a frantic call from a concerned citizen in the barangay, saying that a hostage taking has occurred there. SPO1 Roger Masagca, SPO1 Noel Sunga, SPO1 Guillermo Tria and PO3 Francisco Magdaraog responded to the emergency.
Apparently, Virac agricultural technologist Coleta Panti y Cambonga was inside the residence of the Condes and preparing artificial flowers for decoration of the wake for the recently deceased mother-in-law of Edna Conde when the drama unfolded.
She said Templonuevo first wrapped his left arm around Panti's neck and then pointed a sharp kitchen knife at her neck. Realizing that she was alone in the house with the hostage taker, she urged him to go outside. They did, moving step by step until they passed a doorway leading to the open driveway of the Conde residence.
When they arrived, the lawmen started negotiating with Templonuevo, who did not lose his grip on Panti and started digging the sharp edged knife into her neck, leaving blood dripping into her office uniform.
Some 15 minutes later, a mobile patrol car bearing Virac police chief Col. Rande V. Rosero came, followed shortly by Kagawad Samuel Besa, joining Salvacion barangay captain Antonio Amata, Jr. in the negotiations along with a sizeable crowd of "uziseros" blocking Marcos Arcilla St. Templonuevo refused to talk to the police, shouting every now and then, "Pahare-on an mga pulis, kundi gagadanon ko ini!" Panti could do nothing but utter cries of despair.
When negotiations failed, the authorities decided to fetch his sister Edna from her office at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) but the man refused to listen to her pleas to let go of the hostage. Witnesses say he even accused his own sister of "masterminding" attempts to kill him. At one point, Templonuevo allegedly requested a car but the lawmen said only a tricycle was available, which the man refused.
The police report of the incident says that the team of lawmen told Templonuevo's sister that they would subdue the suspect by paralyzing him. SPO1 Sunga went to the main door of the two-storey home owned by Esperanza Benavidez and proceeded to the second floor where a door opening was just above Templonuevo and his hostage.
While the hostage taker and his victim were leaning against a concrete wall, SPO1 Sunga leaned out the door and drew a bead on Templonuevo, the gun's muzzle only about a meter from the target.
He fired once, the bullet causing Templonuevo to sag against the wall visible. Reports say Sunga saw the knife still being worked on the victim's neck, forcing him to fire again, hitting Templonuevo on the top of the head.
The hostage taker collapsed to the concrete
driveway, taking his victim in the fall. Panti got up and started kicking
the fallen Templonuevo in belated anger. Realizing that the knife was
still stuck at the side of her neck, she pulled it out by herself, blood
gushing out in spurts. Only then did the crowd and the authorities seem to
come alive, with both hostage taker and victim taken to the hospital in
the mobile patrol car with sirens screaming.
