Ex-vice mayor’s slay suspect nabbed after 16 years

LAGUNA, Philippines — After 16 years in hiding, the alleged gunman in the murder of a former vice mayor of Claveria in Masbate has been arrested in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna.

Donald Ibañez, 56, was arrested on Nov. 2 in Barangay Balibago based on a warrant issued in 2016 by Judge Teodoro Solis of the Biñan Regional Trial Court Branch 25.

No bail was recommended for the temporary liberty of Ibañez, who was accused of killing former Claveria vice mayor Joseph Magallanes in December 2010.

Col. Vicente Cabatingan, chief of the Calabarzon police intelligence division, said Ibañez might have thought that authorities had stopped hunting him, so he decided to return to Barangay Balibago.

Ibañez’s brother Dave, 58, who was also tagged in the case, was arrested in August 2025 in Barangay Balibago.

Records showed Magallanes was standing in front of his house in Buenaros Subdivision in Barangay Labas when he was killed on Dec. 9, 2010.