CONVICTED priest-killer Norberto Manero Jr. is now in Zamboanga City in the custody of the Southern Command.
Manero, who surrendered this morning to Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza, was brought from South Cotabato to Zamboanga City aboard a military helicopter. Accompanying him was a foal he had named "PA Jess" after Dureza.
Reports said that Manero would be presented to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at noon tomorrow. However, Justice Secretary Hernando Perez was later quoted by a radio station as saying that such a meeting will not take place.
In a brief talk with reporters after his surrender, Manero said that he gave himself up upon the advice of his wife Julie Yee and his lawyer. Manero had been hiding in a farm in Polomolok, South Cotabato since his escape 18 days ago from the Saranggani provincial jail.
Manero said that he escaped from jail due to "desperation" over the slow progress of his case, wherein he is charged with the alleged abduction and murders of brothers Ali and Mambatawatan Mamalumpong. In 1985 he was convicted for the murder of Italian missionary Tullio Favali.
Upon his arrival in Zamboanga City, Manero was seen feeding the foal with milk from a bottle. He had requested Dureza to allow him to bring the newly-orphaned foal, which he considers his "lucky charm."
Dureza in an earlier radio interview said that the reason the priest-killer surrendered to him is because he has known him for a long time, when he was still a congressman and headed the House committee on human rights.
He said the atmosphere in the Southern Cotabato town where Manero was hiding was quite festive when the fugitive left.
"There was a send-off," Dureza said. "Commander Bucay (Manero) is regarded there in a different way, as a folk hero." Manero is a former member of a pro-government militia which was used by the military to hunt communist and Muslim separatists in Mindanao.
Manero gave himself up, without conditions, to Dureza at around 8:30 a.m. Earlier he had asked for several conditions before his surrender including the speedy trial of his kidnapping and double murder case.
A television report said that Manero will be held at the Davao penal colony instead of being returned to the Saranggani provincial jail.
Dureza said the convict was being questioned by armed forces southern command chief Brigadier General Gregorio Camiling and would stay overnight in the base.
Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Renato Corona quoted President Macapagal as saying that Manero should have filed a motion in court about his grievances.
"If anything will be applied in favor of him, it must be done with the blessings of the court," Corona said.
In 1999, then-president Joseph Estrada triggered outrage after granting Manero a conditional pardon.
Manero was re-arrested the following year on a separate murder and kidnapping charge in Sarangani province. He has insisted that he is innocent of the new charges.
"Of course, I would like to legally face all these accusations against me," he told a radio station via telephone. -- With AFP