LIZADA ILOILO PROVINCIAL POLICE OFFICE
ILOILO CITY—Iloilo policemen have launched a massive manhunt against one of their own, who was tagged in the killing of a police official on New Year’s Eve.
Senior Supt. Roderick Augustus Alba, officer in charge of the Iloilo provincial police office, said necessary force would be used against SPO1 Arnold Lizada if he resists arrest and continues to ignore calls for him to surrender.
“He is considered a fugitive after he failed to surrender after 48 hours and despite numerous attempts to negotiate with him,” Alba said.
Lizada, 43, allegedly shot dead his superior officer, Insp. Christian Lee Nelmida, at the kitchen of the headquarters of the Iloilo police office’s 2nd maneuver platoon in Barangay Jibolo in Janiuay town around 9 p.m. on Dec. 31.
Nelmida, 24, was shot in the chest believed to be by a homemade shotgun. He was declared dead on arrival at Federico Roman Tirador Sr. Memorial District Hospital, about five minutes by car from the police camp.
Lizada, one of the platoon’s team leaders and a native of Lambunao town in Iloilo, immediately fled with the shotgun, an M-16 rifle and a Glock 9-mm pistol.
Alba said colleagues have pleaded to Lizada to surrender through text messages and calls to his mobile phone and through his wife and relatives.
“He has not responded to my calls and text messages,” said Alba.
Tracker teams have been deployed to locate and arrest Lizada. Investigators are still determining the motive for the killing.
Alba said there have been reports that Nelmida scolded two policemen inside the kitchen before Lizada came in and shot his superior officer.
He said investigators are also looking into the possibility that Lizada had a personal grudge against Nelmida.