Rolito Go insists to victim’s parents: ‘It was only an accident’

Murder convict Rolito Go has asked for forgiveness from the parents of the student he killed in a road rage shooting in 1991, but insisted that it was only an “accident.”

“Sana maunawaan nila na ‘yung sitwasyon na nangyari sa anak nila hindi intensyon na mangyari. Actually ito aksidente 'yan,” Go said in an interview with reporters on Friday night, addressing the parents of De La Salle University engineering student Eldon Maguan.

“Sa magulang niya, sorry, hindi ko intensyon [ang nangyari], aksidente talaga,” he added.

Go was released from prison Friday night after the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals which sided with the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court’s ruling in 2014 granting Go’s petition for writ of habeas corpus.

The SC adopted the trial court's position that Go's sentence, which expires on Jan. 31, 2022 instead, should have expired on Aug. 21, 2013, upon deduction of lawful and proper allowances for good conduct, colonist status and preventive imprisonment.

In the interview, Go said he would spend his first Christmas as a free man with his family.

“Tahimik lang. Makapagpahinga at magpagaling dito sa sakit ko. Yung pagkakamali ko noon sana napatawad na ako ng mga tao. Sana itong natitirang panahon ko, makasama ko pamilya ko at makapamuhay nang maayos,” Go said.

Go, a construction magnate, was convicted for the fatal road rage shooting of La Salle engineering student Eldon Maguan in San Juan City in 1991.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1993, but failed to immediately serve the jail term as he escaped from the Rizal Provincial Jail even before the decision on the case was handed down by the trial court.

Go was arrested in April 1996 and jailed at the New Bilibid Prison.

He disappeared after being allegedly kidnapped from the prison facility in August 2012. He resurfaced a day after and was placed under police custody.

Go is currently suffering from stage four colon cancer. —Virgil Lopez and Erwin Colcol/ALG, GMA News