Suspects in killing of NCMH director in 2020 arrested

FILE – Mental ailments up during lockdown: Dr. Rolando Cortez, chief of the National Center for Mental Health, tells senators during an online public hearing on May 28, 2020. Two months later he was killed in Quezon City. (Screen Grab/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities on Monday said that they have already arrested the suspects in the killing of the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) director Dr. Roland Cortez in 2020.

According to a report from the Quezon City Police Department (QCPD), one of the suspects and the alleged mastermind, Clarita Avila, was arrested on June 25 following an arrest warrant issued by the presiding judge of Regional Trial Court, Branch 97, Quezon City.

Avila was the former chief administrative support service of the NCMH. She was arrested in her residence in Barangay Silangan, San Mateo, by operatives from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU).

Meanwhile, the other suspect, Clarita’s driver and bodyguard George Serrano, 57, surrendered to CIDU and to members of the Intelligence Service, Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) on July 2.

Dr. Cortez, along with his driver Ernesto Ponce dela Cruz, was shot dead on July 27, 2020 at around 7:00 a.m., in Tandang Sora Avenue.

READ: NCMH chief, driver shot dead inside car in Tandang Sora, QC

Both victims were dead when they were found in their car; they suffered gunshot wounds.

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