MANILA – An official of an island province in the Bicol Region, who was convicted of killing a lawmaker, surrendered eight days after he escaped from the provincial jail, police reported.
Police identified the convict as Florencio Fernandez Jr., the former vice mayor of Masbate City on the island province of Masbate in Bicol, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Congressman Moises Espinosa Jr.
Fernandez was found missing during a head count of prisoners inside the Masbate provincial jail on June 22, according to the police.
When he escaped, police said Fernandez was scheduled to be brought to the national penitentiary in suburban Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila where he was to serve his sentence after his conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
When he surrendered, police said Fernandez told investigators he escaped after he learned he was to be “liquidated†inside the provincial jail prior to his transfer to the Muntinlupa penitentiary.
Fernandez alleged that one of his fellow inmates inside the Masbate jail was contracted to kill him. But he did not identify the hired killer or the party that wanted him dead.
Records showed that Espinosa was gunned down as he was alighting from the plane that brought him to the Masbate City airport from Manila in 1989.
Fernandez was one of those convicted for murder after they were found guilty beyond reasonable doubt by the Masbate lower court for the killing of Espinosa.
In 1995, Espinosa’s brother, Congressman Tito Espinosa was ambushed an killed by still unidentified assailants near the House of Representatives complex in suburban Quezon City, Metro Manila.
Mayor Moises Espinosa Jr of Masbate City, the son and namesake of the slain lawmaker, was also slain while attending one of the “barangay†(village) fiestas in the city in 2001.
The young Espinosa was mayor for only 40 days when he was gunned down, according to the police.
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