One of the suspects in the gang-rape of a volunteer nurse in Maguindanao has surrendered to authorities, a radio report said Tuesday. Radio dzBB's Benjie Liwanag reported that the "vital" suspect to the crime surrendered Monday afternoon. In an interview on dzBB, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Raul Bacalzo confirmed the surrender of the prime suspect, who he did not name as tactical interrogation was still ongoing.
"Vital suspect itong sumuko. Dahil sa confidentiality rule natin, hindi muna natin sasabihin ang pangalan," Bacalzo said. Asked if the surrender was a significant development on the case, Bacalzo said: "Yes. 100 percent solved na ito." The report added that the suspect has already made "extrajudicial confessions."
Transferred to Davao Meanwhile, nearly two weeks after being gang-raped and nearly killed in Maguindanao province, a 21-year-old volunteer nurse remains in "guarded" condition following her transfer to a medical facility in Davao. Maguindanao provincal health officer Tahir Sulaik voiced fears Tuesday that the nurse's condition may even deteriorate further and render her a "vegetable."
"Yan ang ating pinangangambahan. Sana hindi mangyari dahil siya ay napakabata pa (That is what I fear very much. I hope that will not happen. She is so young)," Sulaik said in an earlier interview on dzBB radio, when asked about the possibility that the nurse's condition will deteriorate further. When asked if she can be considered out of danger, he said: "I could not say that." "She is a very promising nurse, a very promising leader in the near future," he added. Nurses had expressed outrage over the incident, wearing black ribbons and armbands to demand justice for her. On Tuesday, some 100 nurses staged a protest walk from the Philippine Nurses Association to Mendiola Bridge near Malacañang to demand justice for the gang-rape victim. On the other hand, Sulaik said the nurse's family needs help because they had been displaced after the nurse was moved to a hospital in Davao. He said the father works as a tailor while the mother works as a manicurist.
"May displacement
ng family dahil nilipat sa Davao (The family was displaced and had to move to Davao)," he said. When asked if the nurse should be moved to a facility in Metro Manila, he said it is up to her attending physician in Davao.
— LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV 
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