3rd suspect in Bulacan slay of consul’s mother arrested

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — Another suspect in the brutal slaying of a retired principal and mother of the Philippine consul to Australia was arrested by Bulacan policemen in Mindoro Oriental yesterday morning.

Police identified the arrested suspect as Alberto de la Cruz, a tricycle driver residing in Bulacan, Bulacan.

De la Cruz was the third suspect to fall in the brutal slaying of Rosalina Lazaro, a retired principal and mother of the Philippine consul to Australia, Theresa Lazaro, last July 12 inside her house in Barangay San Jose, Bulacan town.

Reports reaching Camp Olivas said two Bulacan policemen, P02 Danilo Estrella and P01 Alexander Dayao, had received information on the whereabouts of De la Cruz and immediately went to Mindoro Oriental armed with a warrant of arrest

Estrella, who had been in Mindoro Oriental since Tuesday, reported that he and his team tracked down De la Cruz in the house of one of his friends in Barangay Poblacion, Pinamalayan town.

The suspect did not resist arrest and will be brought to Bulacan where he will join one of his alleged accomplices, Domingo Chico, 36, in the Bulacan provincial jail.

The other suspect, Dennis Bautista, died due to an unknown ailment while under detention.

Another suspect, a certain Orlie Villaverde, remains at large.

Lazaro was stabbed with an ice pick 60 times in different parts of the body inside her bedroom. Her 12-year-old granddaughter witnessed the incident. — Ding Cervantes