Court orders arrest of 7 in 2011 QC massacre

MANILA, Philippines—A Quezon City court has ordered the arrest of five members of a family and two other persons in Barangay (village) Batasan Hills for their involvement in the 2011 murders of  five of their neighbors over a land dispute.

The Quezon City Police District, however, said the five family members and a sixth suspect have left their homes were now in hiding.

Inspector Elmer Monsalve, homicide section chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said only one of the suspects, Marlon Andamo, was in police custody on a charge of possession of illegal drugs.

Judge Edgar Dalmacio Santos of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court’s Branch 222 warrants for the arrest of the brothers Francisco, Benjamin and Benedicto Badilla; Francisco’s son Arjay; Benjamin’s son Melvin; Marlon Andamo; and a man identified only as Ecat.

All seven have been charged with five counts of murder and one count of frustrated murder for the Nov. 28, 2011 massacre of five persons in their neighborhood in Kalayaan B, Barangay Batasan Hills.

Killed were homeowners association president Liberato Paez, 50; Rogelio Diomampo, 36; Rogelio Agustin, 49; Germinio Manansala, 44; and Armando Garcia, 47. Wounded in the shooting spree was Zaldy Ballesteros, 43.

Monsalve said three—Francisco and Benjamin Badilla and Ecat—worked for the barangay.

The carnage was believed to have been fueled by a land dispute.

Paez’s wife Jessica told police in 2011 that the accused Badillas were known as neighborhood toughies. The Badillas were reportedly unable to present proof of long time residency in the area and were in danger of losing their home if the local government eventually awarded the land to others.