Bodyguards of arrested ex-mayor face charges

EX-MAYOR Ernesto Natividad of Gapan City, Nueva Ecija province, under police custody at Camp Karingal, Quezon City on Friday. JOAN BONDOC

The three bodyguards of a former mayor of Gapan City, Nueva Ecija province, are in hot water after they allegedly tried to stop the police from arresting their boss at a medical facility in Quezon City on Thursday.

Julian Calixto, George Lazaro and former PO2 Romeo de Torres were subjected to inquest proceedings on Friday for obstruction of justice.

However, Assistant City Prosecutor Edgardo Saplala recommended that the case undergo further investigation, saying it was not clear in the police affidavit how exactly the three men prevented the arrest of Ernesto Natividad.

Saplala ordered the release of the three bodyguards from the custody of the Quezon City Police District.

PO2 Anthony Tejerero, the officer on the case, said the three men were the close-in bodyguards of Natividad, who was undergoing dialysis at the Urology Center of the Philippines on Maginoo Street, Quezon City, where he was captured.

Natividad was arrested on a warrant issued last year by Judge Felixberto Olalia Jr. of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 8 in connection with the murder of four people in Gapan in 2006 (not 2005 as earlier reported).

The mayor was charged for allegedly masterminding the killing of brothers Eric and Emerson Pascual and two others in Gapan City.

Police said he was considered Region 3’s most wanted man with a P1-million reward for his capture. Julie M. Aurelio