Iloilo province’s No. 2 ‘most wanted’ man falls

By Jennifer P. Rendon

One of the top “most wanted” persons of Iloilo province was arrested morning of August 6 at a public plaza in Leganes, Iloilo.

Angelito Magnate, 31, a resident of Barangay Daculan, Estancia, Iloilo, was one of the three suspects in a stabbing incident that happened last year.

Lieutenant Joebert Amado, Estancia police chief, said Magnate is the town’s most wanted and the second most wanted person of Iloilo province.

Combined elements of Estancia Municipal Police Station, Iloilo Police Provincial Office-Provincial Intelligence Unit (IPPO-PIU), Regional Intelligence Unit 6 (RIU-6), PIT and CIT-Iloilo, and IPPO Special Operations Group collared Magnate by virtue of an arrest warrant for murder (Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code) docketed as Criminal Case No. 2022-10399.

The suspect was also accused of frustrated murder in CC No. 2022-10400.

Judge Mauricio Gomez of the Regional Trial Court Branch 71 in Barotac Viejo, Iloilo issued the arrest warrant on June 9, 2022.

No bail was set for Magnate’s murder case while a P200,000 bail bond was recommended for the frustrated murder charge.

Amado said Magnate was implicated in the death of Jaypee Francisco, 33, a resident of Barangay Bayuyan, Estancia.

The incident that happened at the fishing port in Estancia town on Aug. 14, 2021 also injured Jaypee’s brother, 27-year-old John Dee Francisco.

Six teenage boys were taken into custody following the stabbing episode.

It was earlier claimed that the six minors and two other John Does connived in stabbing the victims.

Amado said that the court dropped the charges against the two John Does while one of the five teenagers was already incarcerated at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Barotac Viejo town after reaching his legal age.

The five other teenagers are in the custody of the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO).

Amado said the case against Magnate and the two other suspects were later filed after the survivor claimed that the three prevented him from helping his brother.

Police accounts said that the Francisco brothers were unloading tubs of fish from their boat when the six minors approached them.

One of the suspects, who was drunk, confronted Jaypee and without any apparent reason or cause, punched him on the face.

John Dee tried to help when he saw that his brother was attacked.

But the attackers’ seven companions ganged up on the two brothers and stabbed them.

Both victims suffered multiple stab wounds on their back.

They were rushed to Jesus Colmenares District Hospital in Balasan town, but Jaypee was declared dead on arrival.

Amado said that personal grudge could have triggered the incident.

The youngsters involved are deemed a nuisance at the fish port.

They would try to mulct money or fish from the traders or fishermen.