Arturo Pacificador, Marcos ally, dead at 84

ILOILO CITY—Former Antique assemblyman and incumbent provincial board member Arturo Pacificador died of cardiac arrest early on Sunday. He was 84.

Pacificador died at the Antique Medical Center in the capital town of San Jose where he was confined for a lingering heart ailment, according to his nephew Francisco Fullon Jr.

A close ally of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Pacificador was tagged as the mastermind in the Feb. 11, 1986, murder of his arch political rival, former Antique governor Evelio Javier.

On Oct. 12, 2004, the Antique Regional Trial Court acquitted Pacificador and three of his co-accused in the murder of Javier and the wounding of several others. But lawyer Avelino “Bob” Javellana and seven others, mostly security personnel of Pacificador, were convicted.

Pacificador was assemblyman and majority floor leader of the Batasang Pambansa representing Antique’s lone district. He also served as deputy minister for public works and highways.

A former president of the Antique chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Pacificador won a seat in the provincial board representing the province’s south district in the 2013 elections.