PNP doesn’t know where to look for Reyeses

Former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

They don’t even know where to begin to look.

Also, being clueless about the whereabouts of one high-profile fugitive from justice is bad enough. But being clueless about three other high-profile fugitives is unjustifiable.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said Thursday it had lost track of former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes and his brother, Coron Mayor Mario Reyes Jr., the suspected masterminds in the January 2011 murder of Gerardo “Doc Gerry” Ortega.

The PNP is also clueless about the whereabouts of retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and Dinagat Island Rep. Ruben Ecleo.

Palparan is wanted for the kidnapping and illegal detention of Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, both UP students, in Bulacan province in 2006. The two student activists remain missing.

Ecleo was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of his wife 10 years ago.

Senior Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr., spokesperson of the PNP, said the organization was “hoping” that the Reyes brothers were still in the country.

A day after the brothers were placed on the “red notice” alert of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), Cerbo said PNP tracker teams continued to be on the hunt for the brothers.

Unsure

Asked if the PNP knew whether the Reyes brothers were still in the country, Cerbo was unsure.

“We don’t have any reports on whether they have left the country or not… We are hoping that they are still here,” he told reporters at Camp Crame.

Cerbo said he believed the Reyes brothers theoretically would find it difficult to leave the country considering their stature.

But if the brothers had managed to escape abroad, Cerbo said the Interpol notice should help track them down and bring them back to the country to face justice.

The red notices on the Reyeses were posted on the website of the Interpol, a France-based organization connecting a network of police offices in 190 countries, including the Philippines.

The Reyes brothers are only two of five suspects still at large. The other suspects had either surrendered or were arrested.

Ortega, a staunch critic of Reyes and Gov. Abraham Kahlil Mitra, was gunned down inside a used-clothes store on Jan. 24, 2011.

The alleged trigger man, Marlon Recamata, was captured immediately and later confessed that his group was hired for the hit job in exchange for P150,000.