By NITZ ARANCON Correspondent SECURITY concerns factored in the decision of suspects in the Dayo rape-homicide case to waive their right to file their counter-affidavit in order to speed up the process so that they could be moved from the Maharlika police headquarters to the Lumbia jail. Without a counter-affidavit, the City Prosecutor’s Office approved the filing of a case for robbery with homicide aggravated by rape against all the suspects yesterday afternoon. The City Prosecutor’s Office stated that the suspects were “equally liable.” No bailbond was recommended in the four-page resolution by prosecutor Hosni Guiling and approved by city prosecutor Merlyn Uy. Alejandro Jose Pallugna, the lawyer who assisted the five suspects during Monday afternoon’s inquest proceedings at the City Prosecutor’s Office, said the decision of the suspects to waive their right to submit their counter-affidavit was also a legal strategy so that a judge could decide on what to do with primary suspect Warren Amarga who confessed to committing the crime, and four other suspects who have insisted on their innocence. But Pallugna said the suspects also feared for their lives given the angry mob that condemned and nearly lynched them on several occasions since their arrest on Saturday morning. He said the suspects wanted to be transferred from a detention cell at the Maharlika police headquarters to the Lumbia jail where they would be more secure. Their transfer to Lumbia would not immediately take place if they waited for the prosecutors to go over and decide on the complaint, Pallugna said. “It would take as long as 60 days if they waited for the prosecutors,” he said. Amarga has openly admitted to stabbing 30-year old education student Cherrymae Dayo inside the house of the late former councilor Mending Balinado on JR Borja St.. He repeatedly said that he committed the crime alone. At first, he denied that he raped Dayo but he subsequently confessed to sexually abusing the victim. Amarga cleared the other suspects--Joan Escalante, Angel Mae Rada, Joel Jonson, and a minor. The main suspect said that while they were together in a drinking session earlier, the other four did not have anything to do with the Balinado house incident. Pallugna said Amarga has owned the responsibility for the death of Dayo, and has made it very clear to him that the other suspects did not have anything to do with the incident at the Balinado house. Pallugna said the four other suspects have strongly denied participation in Dayo’s killing. The City Prosecutor’s Office however used a March 13 affidavit of extrajudicial confession by Amarga as a basis in approving the filing of a case against all five suspects. In his extrajudicial confession affidavit, Amarga linked the four suspects to the killing, claiming that they all planned to steal from the Balinado house when they were in a drinking session on Friday. In the document, Amarga also claimed that  the other suspects waited outside the Balinado house and received the stolen items from him before he attacked Dayo who was alone. Pallugna however said the affidavit of extrajudicial confession was only made so that the police would have a legal basis in detaining the other four suspects, adding that it would become “worthless” once Amarga recants it before a judge. He said the suspects were consistent in claiming that Amarga went inside the Balinado house alone, and that they were unaware that something terrible had happened until a bloodied Amarga returned to where they were having a drinking session. Pallugna said the group was about 100 meters from the Balinado house. He said the group “dispersed” after seeing the bloodied Amarga. Pallugna, who has only agreed to represent the suspects during the inquest proceedings, said the defense would be handled by the Public Attorney’s Office. In an interview with the Gold Star Daily, Amarga said he was remorseful for what he did. “Wala ko sukad ani, karon pa ni nahitabo sa akoa,” Amarga said. He broke into tears when his brothers Freddie and Junie went to see him. His elder brother Freddie told him: “Naunsa man ka, Loy, nganong gihimo man to nimo? Tubagon gyud na nimo ang iyang gibuhat.” Amarga said he only planned to steal from the house but saw Dayo lying on a bed in one of the rooms. He said that when Dayo saw him, she threw a can at him. “Mao ning na-ay samad sa akong kilay kay naigo man ni sa lata,” he said. Amarga said he did not plan to kill Dayo. He said he panicked when Dayo tried to stop him from escaping. “Tungod sa akong kataranta, mao tong nadunggaban nako siya kay gusto man ko mogawas,” he said. Jonson, Rada, Escalante and the minor, meanwhile, told this paper that they merely had a drinking session with Amarga before the rape and stabbing incident. “Nag-inom ming lima, pero kana si Warren nawala na siya. Wala mi kabalo asa siya paingon,” said Rada. Rada said the group was bound to a nearby bridge when Amarga returned. “Nangsinggita man na siya nga nagdagan kay nangayog tabang pagduol namo. Nagkadugo na iyang puti nga t-shirt. Wala mi kabalo na-unsa siya,” she said. But at least two witnesses have come forward to allege that they saw Rada, Escalante, Jonson and the minor go inside the Balinado property on Friday night. In one of the affidavits, a witness stated that she saw one of the suspects climb the fence of the Balinado property and then opened the gate so that the others could get in. (with reports from herbie gomez)