Police have no lead yet in Aurora judge’s slay

INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines–Two days after a regional trial court (RTC) judge in Baler, Aurora, was murdered, police have yet to find any lead that would establish the motive of the attack or the identity of the lone gunman.

“We have no leads yet on the mastermind or gunman. We also don’t know what triggered the anger,” Chief Supt. Rudy Lacadin, Central Luzon police director, told the INQUIRER from Baler, where he supervised the investigation on Thursday.

Lacadin said slain Baler RTC Judge Jude Erwin Alaba, 45, had 250 cases in his sala, citing information obtained by the police from the clerk of court.
Investigators are reviewing rulings that Alaba had rendered in recent years to find any lead.

Lacadin said at least two witnesses helped the police make a sketch of the lone gunman. The suspect, witnesses said, did not cover his face during the attack at 2 p.m. Tuesday as Alaba parked his car in front of the Municipal Circuit Trial Court (MCTC) in Barangay Suklayin. Alaba’s wife was wounded in the attack.

The assassin wore a hat and fled aboard a motorcycle, police said.

Lacadin said witnesses believed the gunman was not from the area because he did not conceal his identity.

“People [in the MCTC compound and in Barangay Suklayin] have this mindset that the place is peaceful. The courts are in the middle of a rice field. They’re not suspicious of new faces so they did not mind the stream of people going to and leaving the courts,” he said.

Three security guards were assigned in the courts but they failed to prevent the attack, Lacadin said.

Lacadin has ordered tightened security at the courts and Alaba’s house in Baler as the investigation continues. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon/TVJ