ILOILO CITY – A suspect in the 2001 murder of Aklan broadcaster Rolando Ureta surrendered to the police yesterday, three weeks after another suspect was arrested.

Jessie Ticar disclosed his plan to surrender during an interview aired over radio station dyKR of Radio Mindanao Network, of which Ureta was program director when he was gunned down on January 3, 2001.

Ticar asked policemen from the Kalibo police station to arrest him at the office of his lawyer, Joann Ibutnande, Senior Superintendent Benigno Durana Jr., Aklan provincial police director, said.

The police presented Ticar to the Kalibo Regional Trial Court Branch 1 where he was charged with murder after his arrest.

"God is good. Thank you to all those who helped in Roland's case," Ureta's widow, Emely, said in a text message welcoming Ticar's surrender.

Durana said Ticar decided to turn himself in and defend himself in court because his co-suspect, Amador Raz, is being arraigned Wednesday.

Raz was arrested November 26 in Numancia town on the strength of a warrant issued on November 21 by Judge Marietta Homena-Valencia, presiding judge of the Kalibo RTC Branch 1.

A lone witness, Gerson Sonio, identified Ticar and Raz as the ones who shot Ureta at the national highway in Barangay (village) Bagtu, Lezo town, Aklan, around seven kilometers west of the capital town of Kalibo .

The suspects denied involvement in the killing and questioned the credibility of the witness.

Ureta was driving a motorcycle on his way to his parents' house when two gunmen, also on a motorcycle, drove alongside the broadcaster and shot him. Ureta fell into a ditch and managed to reach a house on the roadside before the gunmen finished him off.

The victim hosted the nightly program "Agong Nightwatch." He was investigating the proliferation of illegal gambling and illegal drugs in the province when he was killed.*NPB

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