CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—One of the two alleged gunmen in the killing of Aurora journalist Philip Agustin on May 10, 2005 has been arrested in Mabalacat, Pampanga, the police confirmed on Thursday.

Nilo “Boyet” Morete was nabbed in the village of Poblacion, Mabalacat at past 3 p.m., Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz, Central Luzon police chief, said.

Policemen from the regional intelligence office (RIO), regional investigation division and regional mobile group led by RIO chief Senior Supt. Rosauro Acio worked together to capture Morete, De la Cruz added.

Judge Armando Yanga issued arrest warrants against Morete and his co-accused, Manuel Alday on May 16, 2006. Morete had sent surrender feelers to the National Bureau of Investigation since late 2005 but had not surfaced.

Acio on Wednesday took Morete to Manila to turn him over to a regional trial court in Manila where the murder case was transferred in 2007.

Alday remained at large.

The alleged mastermind, former Dingalan Mayor Jaime Ylarde, has been freed three months ago after Agustin’s daughter, Rosebelle, decided to withdraw the case.

Agustin, publisher and editor of Starline Times Recorder, was gunned down in his home some two hours after he delivered a special edition of his paper. In the runup to his death, Agustin published stories that exposed the alleged misuse of public funds by Ylarde.

Agustin charged the funds should have been used for relief operations, rehabilitation projects and resettlement of victims of the series of landslides in Dingalan in November and December 2004.

The landslides killed more than 700 people and left homeless about 1,000 families.

Suspect-turned-witness Reynaldo Morete was the one who linked his cousin Nilo and Alday to the murder.

Nenita Mendoza, a sister of Agustin, welcomed the arrest of Morete and urged him to tell the truth that Ylarde was the mastermind. "The system in our country freed Ylarde. When he was freed, it was like the world crashed on us," Mendoza said.