Police teams tracking former Palawan gov wanted for murder

MANILA, Philippines—Police teams are intensifying efforts to locate former Palawan governor Joel T. Reyes and other persons accused of the murder of environmentalist broadcaster Gerardo Ortega last year, officials said on Friday.

“Hiding will not help his case,” Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said of Reyes, who along with his brother, Coron Mayor Mario Reyes, was ordered arrested by a Palawan court on Tuesday. “We will intensify efforts to get him,” Robredo added in a text message to reporters.

Philippine National Police  spokesperson Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said the PNP was confident that Reyes and the other subjects of the warrant were still in the country but declined to identify particular locations where he might be.

On Tuesday, Judge Angelo Arizala of the Palawan Regional Trial Court ordered the arrest of the Reyes brothers, who were charged with Ortega’s murder following a reinvestigation of the case by the Department of Justice in Manila.

Ortega, a staunch critic of Reyes and incumbent Governor Abraham Kahlil Mitra, was gunned down inside a used clothes store on January 24, 2011.

The alleged triggerman, Marlon Recamata, was captured immediately and later confessed that his group was hired for the hit job for P150,000.

Robredo said two places the authorities checked based on information given to them “proved negative.”

“One was in Muntinlupa and the other one in Laguna,” he said.

Robredo added that he believed Reyes could not leave the country as there was a warrant for his arrest and a hold departure order.