Reward for suspect in killing of 4 Negros barangay executives now P.5 M

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  – Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. has increased the reward for the arrest of the suspected killer of four barangay officials in Silay City last March from P250,000 to P500,000.

Meanwhile, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, who was in Bacolod Wednesday, ordered the Philippine National Police to “use all government resources and manpower” to arrest suspect Noel Ayalin.

“Get him at all costs,” Robredo told the PNP.

A nationwide manhunt is ongoing for Ayalin, who is believed to have fled Negros Occidental, said Chief Superintendent Cipriano Querol, Western Visayas police director.

Querol escorted Robredo at the third annual national convention of the Electronic Financials Users’ Circle at the Bacolod Pavilion Hotel.

Marañon also believes that Ayalin has already left Negros, saying the reward for his arrest has no deadline.

“He (Ayalin) might even be in Mindanao,” Querol said, adding that he has alerted police forces in other areas in the country.

Robredo, together with Querol, went to Barangay Kapitan Ramon in Silay City to see for himself the place where the four village officials were killed last March 6.

On reports that influential people might be coddling Ayalin, Robredo said, “I don’t even care if there is one (influential person) or if there is none, just get him at all costs.”