Ex-Ecija gov’t worker linked to slay of gov’s aide

CABANATUAN CITY — A former provincial government employee is being hunted by the police in connection with the Jan. 14 murder of the aide of Nueva Ecija Gov. Czarina Umali.

The identity of the former employee was not released.

Investigators were led to the suspect by three men, one of whom surrendered and admitted serving as a lookout when Mary Ann Hernandez, 38, administrative chief of Umali, was gunned down in front of her family in Talavera town.

Reynaldo Iglesia, a resident of San Jose City, surrendered days after Anastacio Geron, 47, and his nephew, Armando Geron, 26, were arrested on Jan. 25 for illegal possession of firearms in Barangay Tondod, also in San Jose City.

The police got information from the mobile telephones of the Gerons that linked them to the Hernandez case, said Senior Supt. Eliseo Tanding, Nueva Ecija police director. —Armand Galang