Chief Inspector Reynaldo Sinaon Sr., this towns police chief, said the suspect, Catalino Mercado, 46, a former resident of Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, was arrested by his men in the house of his cousin, Felino Roque, in Barangay Darauangan Norte here.
Mercado was nabbed by virtue of a warrant of arrest which Cauayan City Regional Trial Court Judge Raul Babaran had issued after the suspect was implicated in a series of highway robberies in the province.
Roque, who, incidentally, is a police asset, squealed about Mercados alleged participation in Padillas abduction and killing following the suspects arrest yesterday afternoon.
Mercado, according to a police report, escaped from the Nueva Ecija provincial jail in 1999 while serving a life sentence for rape and murder.
Gino, a nephew of House Minority Leader Carlos Padilla, was seized by five armed men from his familys farm in Barangay Bibitlat in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija last March 8.
The kidnappers also torched the Padillas farmhouse and gunned down their caretaker, Sixto de Gracia.
Three weeks later, Ginos mangled body was recovered in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija.
Rep. Padilla earlier said his nephews abduction and killing had something to do with an alleged dispute among Ginos relatives involving a large tract of land in Nueva Ecija.
Gino and Robins father, the late former Assemblyman and Camarines Norte Gov. Roy Padilla Sr., was a cousin of Rep. Padilla of Nueva Vizcaya.