Murder suspect falls after 7 years in hiding

MANILA, Philippines - A driver sought by the police for the killing of a neighbor in Malabon City some seven years ago was arrested Tuesday at his hiding place in Bulacan.

Chief Inspector Jerome Balbontin, Northern Police District intelligence and operations unit chief, identified the suspect as Nestor de la Peña, 47, a resident of Barangay Concepcion in Malabon City. Balbontin’s men, led by Inspector Abraham Urubio, arrested De la Peña in Sitio Pagasa, Barangay Sta. Cruz, Sta. Maria, Bulacan at around 5:30 p.m.

Judge Benjamin Antonio of Malabon City Regional Trial Court Branch 170 issued a warrant of arrest against De la Peña for the murder of Rodolfo Castillo in October 2002 in Barangay Concepcion. “The suspect is quite elusive, but he couldn’t hide forever from the law,” Balbontin told The STAR.

Balbontin said that on the eve of Oct. 14, 2002 on Jacinto street in Barangay Concepcion, De la Peña “for no apparent reason treacherously stabbed the victim in the chest.”

Castillo was able to identify De la Peña as his “assailant before he died.”

The suspect fled after the incident and was able to evade arrest for almost seven years but police gathered Sunday that De la Peña was sighted in Bulacan resulting to his arrest after a two-day surveillance.

De la Peña is temporarily detained at the NPD detention cell pending commitment order from the Malabon City court for his transfer to the Malabon City Jail. – Pete Laude