Fugitive Reyes brothers may have left PH—police

Former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine National Police on Thursday raised the possibility that former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes and his brother Coron Mayor Mario Reyes Jr., who are wanted for their alleged involvement in the slay of broadcast journalist and environmental activist Gerardo “Doc Gerry” Ortega in January 2011, have left the country. said Thursday.

Police spokesman Senior Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. admitted that the PNP remains clueless on the whereabouts of the Reyes brothers, who went into hiding after a Palawan court issued a warrant for their arrest last March after other suspects who have been arrested in connection with the case tagged them as the masterminds behind the attack.

Cerbo said that if indeed the brothers had left the Philippines, their inclusion on Intepol’s Red Notice would be a big help as law enforcers from other parts of the world would be tapped in the manhunt.—Jamie Elona