MANILA, Philippines ? Two brothers who are prime suspects in the killing of a transport leader in Quezon City have been arrested, a police official said.

Jano Saripadak, 34, and Jalalalodin Saripadak, 23, residents of Batan St. Garcia Compound, Barangay (village) Holy Spirit were arrested Tuesday afternoon, hours after the murder, said Superintendent Lino Banaag, head of the Quezon City Police District?s Criminal and Investigation Unit.

Banaag said they were preparing murder charges against the brothers over the shooting of Wilfredo Lipata, 47, at 6:10 a.m. of Tuesday.

Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano, QCPD, homicide chief, said members of the QCPD Station 3 arrested the suspects in a house at around 3:30 p.m., hours after witnesses positively identified the suspects as having shot Lipata inside his vehicle at the tricycle terminal located at the corner of Luzon and Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

The suspects, who are now detained at the Camp Karingal detention cell, denied the charges.

Lipata sustained a gunshot wound in the head and was declared dead on arrival at the East Avenue Medical Center.

The homicide chief said that rivalry within the tricycle group could be the motive of the killing.

Lipata was a newly elected board member of the Luzon Tricycle Drivers and Operators Association, with vehicles plying routes along Luzon Avenue and nearby areas in Quezon City.

?We have reason to believe that rivalry within the tricycle organization has led to the shooting,? Elenzano said.

?The victim?s group had just taken over the management of the organization after 20 years of being run by the other party,? Elenzano explained.

He said that based on the initial investigation, the victim was involved in a gunfight with another driver, a member of the rival faction, last Saturday.

Lipata accidentally shot a bystander.