PNP recounts hunt for Reyes brothers in Thailand

MANILA, Philippines — Fugitives former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and his brother, former Coron Mayor Mario Reyes were arrested in their villa at the resort area of Rawai in Phuket, Thailand on Sunday night following a tip sent by an unidentified informant, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said Friday.

The fugitive brothers who are wanted for the 2011 murder of environmentalist and radio broadcaster Gerry Ortega arrived in Manila at 3:20 am Friday from Bangkok aboard Philippine Airlines flight 733. According to the PNP, the fugitive brothers were living "like tourists" in Thailand before they were arrested.

A five-man CIDG team escorted the brothers all the way from Thailand where they were arrested by Thai immigration officials for violating the country’s immigration laws and were ordered deported.

At a press briefing in Camp Crame, CIDG director Chief Superintendent Victor Deona said the brothers were not handcuffed on their flight home and were only served their respective arrest warrants for Ortega's murder as soon as they cleared Philippine immigration.

The arrest warrants were issued by Palawan Regional Trial Court Branch 52 Judge Angelo Arizalda. Deona said that after clearing Philippine immigration, the Reyes brothers were read their Miranda rights by the CIDG and were then handcuffed.

Deona told reporters that the Reyes brothers left the Philippines in 2012 even before the warrants for their arrests were issued by the court in March 2012 and even before the International Police (Interpol) posted its red notice.

According to Deona, the PNP had several leads on where the brothers were holed up. However all leads led to dead ends.

Deona said a break in the case happened last February 4 when the Royal Embassy of Thailand communicated with its Philippine counterpart and confirmed the entry of the Reyes brothers into Thailand.

However, the biggest break in the case, said Deona happened last September 8 when an "anonymous informant" sent the CIDG an electronic mail at its email address ([email protected]) informing the unit on the location of the fugitive brothers.

Deona said the email sent by the informant was then sent to the CIDG's Special Operations Unit, which then started a series of email exchanges with the informant from September 8 to September 15.

"There was an exchange of email because the informant was reluctant. In one of his email, he said he needs somebody whom he really can trust," said Deona,

Deona said the CIDG then assigned an officer to talk with the informant and gain his trust through a series of private e-mails and through telephone conversations.

According to Deona, the informant would later reveal that the Reyes brothers are located in Rawai at the southern portion of Phuket. Deona said the informant also revealed that  Joel has been using the name "Johnny" while Mario identifies himself to locals as "Nicky."

The informant, Deona added, also revealed that the brothers are living in a villa and are driving around in a white Ford Ecosport sports utility vehicle.

"After we completed the information, we sent these to Interpol Thailand.  Fortunately, one of the Thai Police is a classmate of one of my officers who took up classes in Japan. After we sent the intelligence packet on September 18, the Thai police together with Interpol provided us with photos of the house and confirmed the Ecosport was being used by the Reyes brothers," said Deona.

Deona said the photos were then sent to the informant who then confirmed them. After the confirmation by the informant, the Royal Thai Police and Interpol arrested the brothers for violating Thailand's immigration laws on September 20.

"By 2 p.m. of September 20 they sent an email saying 'we got them' and then they sent photos of the Reyes brothers showing that they have been arrested," said Deona.

According to Deona, when confronted by the Thai police, Mario made the mistake of showing his old Philippine passport that was already canceled by the Department of Foreign Affairs, while Joel showed a medical record in the name of a certain "Johnny Leong."

"Because of that they were arrested for overstaying," said Deona.

According to Deona, the informant has yet to collect the bounty for the arrest of the fugitive brothers. The brothers carry a P2-million bounty each.

On September 21, the CIDG sent its five-man team to fetch the brothers from the custody of the Royal Thai Police.

At the press conference, the fugitive brothers were presented to media. They were not allowed to issue any statements. Reporters were also not allowed to ask them any questions.

After their media presentation, the brothers were then booked at the CIDG and had their mugshots taken. Their fingerprints were also taken and were made to undergo a routine medical examination at the PNP Health Service.

At about 10:30 a.m., the brothers, still under tight CIDG escort, were taken to the airport for their 1:10 p.m. flight back to Palawan where they will be presented to the court that issued their arrest warrants.

For his part, Interior and Local Government Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento congratulated the CIDG for the arrest of the brothers.    

"On behalf of the national leadership I would like to extend the commendation of President Aquino to the PNP under Director General Ricardo Marquez for this landmark accomplishment. This only goes to show that the long arm of the law will eventually catch anyone who challenges its majesty," he said.

"This is only an initial victory. From here we shall continue to support the other pillars and ensure the successful prosecution of the case until its logical conclusion," he added.

PNP chief, Director General Ricardo Marquez meanwhile credited the arrest of the Reyes brothers to the strong partnership between the PNP, the Royal Thai Police and the Interpol.

Meanwhile, Sarmiento assured that the PNP will be cooperating fully with the Department of Justice regarding the case.

"Unang coordination with (Justice) Secretary (Leila) De Lima 'yung pag-biyahe muna. Within the day we will be working closely with the DOJ with respect to this particular case," he said.

Prior to the killing, Ortega was a vocal critic of local officials for their alleged misuse of funds derived from the operation of the Malampaya gas field in Palawan.

The Court of Appeals had issued a ruling in October 2014 directing De Lima to resolve the petition for review filed by the Ortega famiy.

It junked the petition filed by the former Palawan governor seeking to prohibit the Office of the Secretary of Justice from conducting further proceedings in a preliminary investigation in connection with the case.

Reyes had sought the inhibition of De Lima from resolving the petition for review following her statement alleging that his camp employed "foul tactics and illicit means" in order to get a favorable decision from the appellate court.

He also cited De Lima's statement saying that her office "is readying a contingency plan-resolution" of the pending petition for review of the Ortega family following the CA's ruling, which nullified the creation of a second panel of prosecutors and its subsequent finding of probable cause to hold him liable for murder.

In October 2013, the CA declared final its March 19, 2013 decision that cleared the former governor of murder charges in connection with the killing of Ortega.

The CA's March 19, 2013 decision reinstated an earlier resolution issued by the first panel of prosecutors of the DOJ that cleared the Reyes brothers and four others of the murder charges for insufficiency of evidence. Another division of the CA had also cleared former mayor Reyes. 

The former Coron mayor had challenged De Lima's order that created a second panel of investigators, which reversed the findings of the first panel.

In the case of former governor Reyes, the CA had ruled that instead of creating a second panel of investigators, De Lima should have reviewed the case herself.