ILOILO CITY—Police have filed an obstruction of justice complaint against a congressional candidate in Capiz and a businesswoman for allegedly aiding a fugitive mayoral candidate escape arrest.
In a complaint filed in the Iloilo City Prosecutor’s Office on April 26, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Western Visayas accused Jesus Ma. Jose “Jojie” Avelino III of violating Presidential Decree No. 1829 (Obstruction of the Arrest and Prosecution of Criminal Offender).
Also named respondent was Marilou Villasis, a businesswoman from Molo district.
Lawyer Leodegario Dadivas said Avelino had yet to receive a copy of the complaint. He said Avelino would also respond to the sworn statement of Villasis against him.
The two respondents allegedly helped engineer Leodegario Labao Jr. elude arrest at St. Paul’s Hospital Iloilo in Iloilo City on April 14.
Labao is being hunted by law enforcement agencies after he was tagged the mastermind in the May 4, 2012, killing of Vice Mayor Abel Martinez of Mambusao town.
Martinez, 79, died from five bullet wounds after he was repeatedly shot by a lone gunman outside his house in Barangay Poblacion Proper, Mambusao.
Labao is the mayoral candidate in Mambusao of the National Unity Party.
Superintendent Mafelino Bazar, CIDG Western Visayas director, said the complaint was filed after footage from the hospital’s surveillance cameras showed Avelino escorting Labao out of the hospital to a vehicle being driven by Villasis.
These were supported by testimonies of hospital employees and other witnesses, said Bazar. Labao was confined at the hospital from April 10 to 14 after he complained of chest pains.
Villasis admitted that she picked up Labao and Avelino from the hospital. She said Avelino was a family friend but later she learned that the other person was Labao.