Above, a video clip uploaded by Facebook user Anthony Enriquez.
Butuan City – Personnel from the Butuan City Police Office (BCPO) Station 1 took into custody five suspects in the fatal stabbing of a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) worker in the wee hours Sunday after a mobile phone video went viral on social media.
The victim, identified as Jaymart Tapic Roldan, 23 years old and a resident of Davao City, was ganged upon and stabbed to death at a street corner over a heated argument in one of the bars here at around 1 a.m.
“The video that was uploaded on social media and went viral helped supply valuable information as to the identity of the suspects and clues as to their whereabouts.
“On the video we saw how the suspects ganged up on the victim, who succumbed to three stab wounds while being taken to MJ Santos Hospital,” Paden said.
After an intensive manhunt operation, police have all the suspects in custody, namely:
- Neil Adrian Plaza Sabornido, 23 years old, resident of Emily Homes Subdivision;
- Hudson Rudillas Zoilo, 18, resident of Purok 2 Lopez Jeana Extension Barangay Tandang Sora;
- Joviz Adrain Borbon Santos, 23, resident of Casa Rivera Homes, Barangay Libertad;
- Mark Genesis Quianbao Asido, 22, of Purok 2 Barangay San Ignacio
- Mark Cala Magallanes, 22, of Acosta Villaga, Purok 12 Barangay Libertad
Paden said that, right after the incident, law enforcers immediately traced the suspects through witnesses who identified them.
“We did not let up all through dawn. The first suspect we caught in the morning was Sabornido, later we got Asido, as both of them are friends. In the afternoon Zoilo voluntarily surrendered, accompanied by relatives. Then at around 3:00 in the afternoon, after we tried to reach the home of Santos and talked to family members, we learned that he was about to leave the city, so we caught up with him as he was on his way out of Butuan City in a private car.
“Then the last suspect, Magallanes, whom everyone pointed out as the one who stabbed the victim, voluntarily surrendered at our Station 3 this evening after he was convinced by family members to give up,” said Paden.
Curiously, witnesses said Magallanes was not involved in the fray and was not known to the people who quarreled. It turned out that he habitually mixed in when there is a commotion, and is himself tainted with a police record.
“There were eight of us that evening, three women and five men, we are from the same office at Public Works and Highways. We had just finished our year-end party, then we moved to Moff’s bar, but only a few of us came along.
“Initially it was only the three females who intended to go to the next venue, then the five guys came along. The victim and I entered the bar. The victim even danced.
“The next thing I knew, a male co-worker got into a commotion with customers from another group because one of my companions allegedly brushed the abdomen of one of the other group, though he denied doing such thing.
“I approached the other group since I also knew them, and asked to just let the issue go,” said one of the witnesses.
“We then decided to leave, not realizing that the other group had followed us and hit our co-worker, who immediately fell to the ground.
“The victim tried to help us, but he was outnumbered by the other group and overwhelmed.
“I tried to step in to stop the fight, but was stunned by an electric taser flashlight by another guy who was not familiar.
“Next, I saw my friend being stunned by tased several times, punched and then stabbed with a knife. It was surreal, it happened so fast,” she concluded.
The victim later identified and pointed out at the police station that Magallanes was the person who used the taser and who stabbed the victim several times.
Another female witness said: “The victim, who was our senior, just stepped in to help defend us; he was not even the one who had an argument with them in the bar. But sadly he was the one who was killed.”
“We were all overwhelmed, a lot of people who were not actually part of the quarrel joined in the scuffle. They picked us off from each other, isolating us off from each other. Our option was to defend the women and before we realized it, in just a matter of seconds our friend is died,” he said.
Magallanes, while in the investigation room, confirmed he did not know anyone in the group. He just decided to get into the fight and be part of the entire commotion.
Magallanes is known for figuring in several acts of street violence in the past. He was involved in another incident where in he broke the front window of a Chevrolet pick-up truck using a baseball bat on July 15, 2017, at a Caltex petrol station and charged with alarm and scandal and malicious mischief. But was able to go free after he and others promised to pay for the broken window but unfortunately did not.
“The suspect (Magallanes) turned over to us a small shoulder carry bag that contained the switchblade type of knife and the taser built on a flashlight that was used in the attack,” said Police officer Paden.
As of the reporting time, BCPO is to bring the suspects to the fiscal’s office for inquest.
