MANILA, Philippines – The American who shot and killed the son of a Malacańang official over a traffic altercation late Wednesday was also involved in a vehicular accident a few years ago which led to the death of a government official, police said Friday.
The suspect has been identified as Jason Ivler, 27, a stepson of Briton Stephen Pollard, an economist at the Asian Development Bank. Ivler is the son of Pollard’s wife, Marlene Aguilar, from a previous marriage. Marlene is a sister of singer Freddie Aguilar.
Pollard, 58, is the registered owner of the blue Honda CRV with diplomatic plate 20903, which Ivler was allegedly driving when the latter allegedly shot and killed Renato Victor Ebarle Jr, 27, the son of Palace chief of staff Renato Ebarle Sr. last Wednesday.
The young Ebarle, a recruitment manager of the Manila Peninsula Hotel, was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser on Santolan Rd. in Quezon City at 11 p.m. on Wednesday when he almost collided with Ivler’s vehicle.
A policeman who witnessed the incident said the suspect blocked Ebarle’s vehicle, got down from his car and shot the victim at close range before fleeing the scene. Ebarle died on the spot.
“We have launched a manhunt for Jason Ivler, who we came to know was involved in a traffic accident that resulted in the death of a government official in 2004,” said Supt. Lino Banaag, head of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU).
Banaag said investigators have also started looking into the 2004 vehicular accident involving Ivler in which Nestor Ponce, the presidential adviser for resettlement, was killed. He said they want to know why Ivler was going around freely when he was arrested in Zamboanga City in 2004.
He said other law enforcement agencies like the Aviation Security Group, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and the Highway Patrol Group have joined the manhunt for Ivler who was described by Philippine National Police Chief Director General Jesus Verzosa as “armed and dangerous.”
No comment
Pollard, accompanied by a lawyer, showed up at the CIDU office in Camp Karingal before 2:00 p.m., and submitted a prepared affidavit to the police.
He refused to answer questions from reporters and said “no comment” to all questions posed to him.
Chief Supt. Elmo San Diego, the QCPD director, earlier said a manhunt would be launched against Pollard if he did not voluntarily submit himself for investigation before noon yesterday.
In his sworn statement, Pollard said he has been living in the country since 1996 and admitted to being the owner of the Honda CRV that figured in the killing.
But Pollard denied using the vehicle at any time last Wednesday, nor did he say who was driving the vehicle at the time of Ebarle’s killing.
Chief Insp. Benjamin Elenzano, the QCPD homicide chief, said Pollard also refused to submit the vehicle for forensic tests, saying he could not remember where the keys were. But he promised that his lawyer would cooperate with the investigation.
Elenzano said Pollard declined to answer questions on who was using the Honda that day and the whereabouts of his stepson, Ivler.
“He refused to answer who was driving the vehicle that night and said it’s our job to find out,” Elenzano said.
Elenzano said Pollard has two minor children and two stepsons, including Ivler, with Aguilar.
Diplomatic immunity
The ADB has declined to comment on the case, saying “the matter is currently under police investigation.”
“Based on the information available so far, we do not believe that ADB staff was involved in the incident,” said Ann Quon, principal director of the ADB’s external relations department.
Ed Malaya, the Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, yesterday said the issue of entitlement of diplomatic immunity to “the individual to whom diplomatic plate number 20903 was issued” was not yet relevant at this time as there was no finding yet that the individual “was indeed in the car at the time of the alleged shooting.”
“The car could have been driven by another person at that time,” he said.
Malaya hinted that the DFA had checked the diplomatic accreditation of Pollard’s family members. But he declined to provide details.
He said police investigators had visited the DFA protocol office on Thursday and DFA officials had “answered fully on the basis of available records the queries” they made.
Rafael Seguis, DFA undersecretary for special concerns, said “family members of diplomats, defined to consist of spouse and minor dependent children, enjoy immunity (from suit) as the principal.”
“Provided they are not nationals of the receiving state,” Seguis added.
But Verzosa stressed that dependents of ADB officials do not enjoy the same immunity from suit as that accorded to members of the diplomatic corps.
Verzosa yesterday directed the Metro Manila police and the Aviation Security Group to join in the manhunt for Ivler.
Copies of Ivler’s photo were circulated to all police units across the capital and in major airports and seaports, said PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina.
“Ivler’s movements are being closely monitored through the NCRPO’s network of CCTV cameras installed in strategic locations around Metro Manila,” Verzosa said.
Records from the PNP’s firearms and explosives division showed that no firearm had been registered in Ivler’s name, said Espina.
Arrested in 2004
Ivler was charged in court for the August 2004 deadly car accident on the C5-Ortigas flyover that killed Ponce.
According to press reports in 2004, Ponce was killed while his wife and another passenger were hurt when Ivler’s Toyota Land Cruiser with license plate 23370 leapt over the center island of the C-5 Ortigas flyover and slammed into Ponce’s Isuzu Trooper.
Ivler, an American citizen, was charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide, serious physical injuries and damage to property in a Pasig court.
A warrant of arrest was issued against Ivler, after he slipped past police guards at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center where he was taken after the accident.
Ivler, who was granted bail but barred from leaving the country, was arrested by National Bureau of Investigation agents in Zamboanga City while trying to catch a ferry bound for Malaysia.
The reports said Ivler was being escorted by two police officials when he was arrested by NBI agents.
