Bounty put up for fugitive ex-Palawan governor

Former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Friends and supporters of slain broadcaster and environmentalist Gerry Ortega have put up a P300,000 reward  for information leading to the arrest of former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes and his brother, Coron Mayor Mario Reyes Jr.,  who are alleged to have masterminded the assassination of Ortega last year.

According to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Ortega’s widow, Patria Ortega, was able to raise P100,000 while Robredo’s “friends from the private sector” threw in P200,000.

Although the Reyes brothers and their two co-accused have eluded arrest since last month, Robredo believes they are still in the country.

“There are no records or reports from the Bureau of Immigration that the Reyes brothers have left for abroad. Our police tracker teams have also not received reports that both may have used the southern backdoor to escape prosecution,” Robredo said.

Ortega, a strong critic of Reyes when the latter was governor, was gunned down inside a used clothes store on Jan. 24, 2011 in Puerto Princesa. The suspected gunman, Marlon Recamata, who was immediately captured, claimed that he was hired by Reyes’ bodyguard, Rodolfo Edrad Jr., who paid him P150,000.

In an extra-judicial confession, Edrad confessed to having organized the assassination of Ortega and procured the services of the gunman and the latter’s associates. He said Reyes and his brother, Coron Mayor Mario Reyes Jr., funded the operation to kill Ortega, including providing the reward money and hideouts.

The Department of Justice initially cleared Reyes and his co-accused but reversed the decision after a reinvestigation.

Edrad’s testimony was at first rejected by a Department of Justice investigative panel which cleared Reyes and his co-accused.

However, a subsequent reinvestigation by a new panel reversed this. The new panel also accepted additional evidence, including records of text messages between Reyes and Edrad before and right after the Ortega murder.

The prosecution panel noted that based on cell-phone records submitted by Globe Telecoms, Reyes was in contact with Edrad from December 2010 up to January 2011. Reyes had earlier claimed that he was not closely associated with Edrad and even rejected his application as close-in security.

Saying the string of text messages to Edrad indicated guilt, the DOJ last March 12 recommended the filing of murder charges against Reyes and four others—his brother Mario, his former provincial administrator Romeo Seratubias, and provincial government employees Arturo Regalado and Valentin Lecias—for the killing of Ortega.