Ivler's gun matches weapon in Ebarle slay

MANILA, Philippines - National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Nestor Mantaring disclosed yesterday that the .45 caliber pistol recovered from road rage slay suspect Jason Aguilar Ivler was the same gun used in the killing of the son of a Malacañang official during a traffic altercation in Quezon City last year.

Mantaring told a press conference at NBI headquarters in Manila that the ballistic test conducted on the US-made Kimber .45 caliber pistol seized by NBI agents from Ivler after the shootout last Monday at his mother’s house in Blue Ridge Subdivision, Quezon City, showed that the gun was the same weapon used in the killing of Renato Victor Ebarle Jr., son of a Malacañang assistant secretary, during a road rage incident at the corner of Boni Serrano St. and Ortigas Avenue in Quezon City last Nov. 18.

Mantaring said the bullet slugs recovered from the body and the Toyota Land Cruiser of Renato Jr. and a slug recovered from the house of Ivler’s mother Marlene Aguilar came from the same pistol recovered from the suspect when NBI agents arrested him.

NBI agents nabbed Ivler, who had evaded law enforcers for two months, after a shootout at his mother’s house at No. 23 Hillside Drive in Blue Ridge that left the suspect and two government agents wounded.

Ivler suffered gunshot wounds in the right shoulder and abdomen and underwent surgery and is now confined at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center (QMMC).

Lawyer Angelito Magno, chief of the NBI Special Action Unit (SAU), was grazed on his right thigh and was brought to the Medical City for treatment, while special investigator Anna Lira Labao sustained bullet shrapnel wounds on her chest and was also hospitalized.

Mantaring said that the examination report from the NBI Firearms Investigation Division (FID) has revealed that the Kimber .45 caliber pistol with serial no. MJ59102 recovered from Ivler was the same weapon used in the killing of Ebarle Jr.

The NBI raiding team also recovered a US-made Rock River Arms AR-15 rifle with serial no. CM207379 and a tactical vest with bullet magazines and ammunition from Ivler, a nephew of folksinger Freddie Aguilar, after the shootout.

Mantaring said Ivler is now facing additional charges of attempted murder for the wounding of Magno, frustrated murder for the wounding of Labao, and direct assault with illegal possession of firearms for the shootout with the NBI agents.

The suspect was earlier charged with murder for the killing of Ebarle and a separate homicide through reckless imprudence for the death of presidential adviser Nestor Ponce during a traffic accident in 2004. Ivler has two standing arrest warrants in connection with the two cases.

Charges of obstruction of justice were filed against Ivler’s mother Marlene for harboring an accused and for refusing to report to authorities Ivler’s presence in her house.

Mantaring said Ivler’s stepfather Briton Stephen Pollard, a consultant of the Asian Development Bank, is not yet off the hook since both Marlene and Pollard failed to cooperate with authorities when they were looking for Ivler, who is Marlene’s son from a previous marriage.

He said the firearms recovered would be used as additional evidence against Ivler for the murder of Ebarle Jr.

Mantaring added that both the .45 caliber pistol and the AR-15 rifle have no license or any record at the Firearms and Explosives Unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Mantaring said there is no formal notice that Ivler will be transferred to another hospital in Manila.

NBI Deputy Director for Technical Services Reynaldo Esmeralda said more than 10 shots were fired by Ivler from the AR-15 rifle and one from the .45 caliber pistol during the shootout.

Reward given to informant

Undersecretary Renato Ebarle Sr. and Mantaring yesterday gave the P500,000 reward of Malacañang to an unidentified male who gave the information leading to the arrest of Ivler.

During a short ceremony held at the NBI, the elder Ebarle and Mantaring gave the cash reward to the male informant who wore a black ski mask to hide his identity.

The PNP will give an additional P500,000 cash reward to the informant next week.

“And I would like to express my gratitude to (President Arroyo) for raising the reward from P500,000 to P1 million after I made a request to augment what was already announced by the Philippine National Police, the original amount which was P500,000. And I thank the President for approving it. But let me just mention also my big thanks to the late Press Secretary Cerge Remonde who helped his friend, who helped me and my family during our darkest time. He helped me seek the President’s approval for another P500,000,” said Ebarle Sr.

“I would also like to thank NBI Director Mantaring and the rest of the brave men and women of the National Bureau of Investigation, who in spite of the distorted, conflicting reports coming from the media and law enforcement agencies that Ivler left the country, they still continued to look for ways (to handle) this matter of arresting Ivler, the elusive Ivler,” he said.

He described the informant as “providential.”

Meanwhile, Ivler’s mother Marlene told reporters that she would ask the US government to take custody of her son who is a Filipino-American and a former member of the US Rangers who served in the Iraq war.

“I’m appealing to the US embassy for them to protect him (Ivler) from Philippine authorities,” said Aguilar.

Aguilar said she is making the appeal to American authorities because of the human rights violations committed against her son after the shootout with NBI agents.

“Considering that they (Philippine authorities) treated him (Ivler) like an animal,” she said.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) National Capital Region (NCR) office would investigate the alleged violations committed by the NBI agents during the arrest of Ivler.

“I understand Ms. Aguilar will be filing a complaint with the CHR. We prefer that they file a formal complaint with us. But with or without a complaint we proceed to investigate,” CHR chair Leila de Lima said.

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said yesterday that the American citizenship of Ivler would not help him in the various criminal complaints filed against him.

Devanadera said the US government could extend assistance to Ivler through the US embassy in Manila.

Citing the case of US Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith who was accused of raping a Filipina in Subic in November 2005 as precedent, Devanadera said Ivler could only get

security assistance from the US embassy for his incarceration and prosecution even if he is a former US soldier.

“We do not discount the fact that the usual thing that happens is that the embassy always make representation in behalf of those incarcerated - but only insofar as their security is concerned.”

“The embassy does not meddle in the internal affairs of any country and more so if the crime charged is something that is not connected at all to their work. We’ve seen that in Smith,” Devanadera explained.

She added that if Ivler were found guilty by the court, he would serve his sentence in the Philippines since the country does not have a treaty on transfer of incarceration with the US, unlike with Spain. With Reinir Padua, Katherine Adraneda, Edu Punay