SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (Mindanews / 19 April) — A Quezon City court has issued an arrest warrant for a businessman and a former New People’s Army (NPA) guerrilla for the killing of retired Col. Samuel Afdal in 2021.
Judge Juris Dilinila-Callanta of Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 85 has ordered the arrest of Ryan Mark Baylon, president of JB Earthmovers Inc. based in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, and ex-rebel Rosalino Degracia alias Okie. No bail was recommended.
They were charged with the murder of Afdal, who was the owner of Rosario Manobo Mining Corp. (RMMC).
Baylon and Degracia are among the four suspects in the ambush of Afdal on October 26, 2021, in Sta. Cruz village of Rosario town, Agusan del Sur. The victim was waylaid while driving along an uphill road toward the RMMC base camp.
Though wounded, Afdal managed to drive to the RMMC compound and seek help. He was rushed to a local hospital where he later fell into a coma and passed away on November 15, 2021.
A third suspect, Alemar Awado alias Dongkoy, also a former NPA guerrilla, surrendered to authorities in Bislig, Surigao del Sur even before a warrant for his arrest was issued.
The case is now being heard in a Quezon City court after the Supreme Court granted the request of Afdal’s widow, Evelyn, the main complainant, to transfer the venue from the Regional Trial Court Branch 6 in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur.
Prior to the venue transfer, Agusan del Sur provincial prosecutor Ceferino Dino Paredes had indicted Awado, Baylon, and Degracia for Afdal’s ambush before the court in Prosperidad on January 31.
In his January 18 resolution, Paredes gave credence to the accounts of the fourth suspect, former NPA rebel Jeffrey Mamerto, who admitted to staging the ambush against Afdal, known to his associates as Saga.
Mamerto pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of homicide and was sentenced to a 10-year prison term by Prosperidad RTC Presiding Judge Emily Zen Chua.
Mamerto was indicted for the crime in November 2022, but it wasn’t until October of the following year that he confessed to his role. He implicated Baylon, Afdal’s business associate, as the mastermind of the plot, allegedly offering his former NPA colleagues Degracia and Awado P200,000 to carry out the hit job.
In turn, Mamerto was promised P50,000 to carry out the hit against Afdal.
In the amended information filed by Paredes before the Prosperidad RTC, Baylon was named as the principal by inducement for offering the cash reward for the job, and also as a principal by indispensable cooperation by providing Degracia, Awado, and Mamerto with critical information to carry out the ambush.
Degracia and Awado were labeled as co-principals by direct participation.
In her murder complaint against Baylon, Afdal’s widow Evelyn alleged that the accused defrauded her family of their ownership stake in JB Earthmovers, which was “obliterated” from company records after her husband’s death. (Chris V. Panganiban/MindaNews)