MANILA, Philippines?(UPDATE 2) Quezon City police formally filed murder charges against Jason Ivler, the American tagged as responsible for the death of the son of a Malacanang official.

Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano filed the charges before the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office past 1 p.m. today.

Elenzano, chief of the homicide section of the Quezon City Police District, said the raids on Saturday of three houses where Jason Ivler, 27, may have been hiding yielded negative results.

?Murder charges will be filed today based on the statements of three witnesses, after the raids on various houses yielded negative results. The hunt for Ivler will continue until he is arrested or surrenders,? Elenzano said.

He said Ivler would be charged before the City Prosecutor?s Office in the death of Renato Victor Ebarle Jr., son of Presidential Chief of Staff Undersecretary Renato Ebarle Sr.

He said witnesses had identified Ivler as the person who repeatedly shot Ebarle on Wednesday night on Santolan Road near Ortigas Avenue in the village of Valencia after a traffic altercation.

?The witnesses have come forward and positively identified Ivler through photos shown by media and police,? Elenzano said.

According to witnesses, after their cars nearly collided on Santolan Road, Ivler blocked Ebarle?s vehicle, alighted from his car, and repeatedly shot the victim at close range.

On Saturday, police raided the residence of singer Freddie Aguilar in New Manila and the homes of Ivler?s stepfather, Stephen Pollard, at 18 and 23 Hillside Drive, Blueridge A, Libis, Quezon City.

But lawyer Angelito Magno, head of the National Bureau of Investigation Special Action Force (SAF) whose agents joined the raid, said one house in Blue Ridge and another in New Manila were owned by Pollard. The other house in Blue Ridge was owned by Ivler?s mother, Marlene Aguilar.

The house in New Manila, Magno said, was the address reflected on the registration of the vehicle used by Ivler.

Pollard, a British economist at the Asian Development Bank, is the registered owner of the blue Honda CRV with diplomatic plate 20903, used by the suspect when he shot Ebarle.

Ivler is the son of Pollard?s wife, Marlene Aguilar, from a previous marriage. Marlene is a sister of Freddie Aguilar.

?We have not located the vehicle used in the shooting, but we suspect the blue Honda CRV has already been hidden,? Elenzano said.

Pollard has refused to yield the vehicle to the police, saying that he could not remember where he kept the keys of the vehicle.

DFA spokesperson Ed Malaya yesterday told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the Ivler case was ?purely a Philippine National Police matter now.?

The DFA said that unlike his stepfather Pollard, Ivler was ?not covered by the immunity privileges given to foreign diplomats.?

Elenzano said the raid on the three houses was in connection with Ivler?s case in 2004 of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and damage to property.

?The raid was conducted on the virtue of the warrant of arrest issued by a Pasig City judge in connection with his previous case,? he said.

Ivler, he said, has an outstanding warrant of arrest for the death of Nestor Ponce, a Malacañang undersecretary, in 2004.

A Pasig City court in August 2004 charged Ivler with the death of Ponce.