BI ordered: Be on lookout for accused in Ortega slay

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a lookout bulletin order (LBO) against former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and the other accused in the killing of radio broadcaster Gerry Ortega in Puerto Princesa City on Jan. 24 last year.

In a two-page memorandum, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has directed the Bureau of Immigration “to be on the lookout” for Reyes, his brother Coron Mayor Mario Reyes Jr., former provincial administrator Romeo Seratubias, close-in aide Arturo Regalado, and Valentin Lecias “should any of them pass through the immigration counter in any international airport.”

In a text message, De Lima said the LBO would not prevent the accused from leaving the country – unlike a watchlist order or hold departure order (HDO), which she said she could not issue due to a pending temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court.

“A lookout bulletin order will not have the effect of preventing departure. We will just be alerted or notified by immigration authorities should the subject of the lookout order shows up at an airport or seaport,” she said.

Ortega’s eldest daughter Mika welcomed the DOJ order. But she said her family is hopeful that the Puerto Princesa City regional trial court hearing the case would issue an arrest warrant and HDO against Reyes and the other accused.

Earlier this month, the DOJ ordered the indictment of Reyes and the other accused based on a reinvestigation by a second panel of state prosecutors on the complaint filed by Ortega’s widow Patria Gloria.

The DOJ panel junked Reyes’ denial and instead upheld the testimony of Rodolfo Edrad Jr., another suspect who tagged the former governor and his brother as alleged masterminds of the killing.

The investigating fiscals cited the admission made by the Reyes brothers in their counter-affidavits that Edrad went to Mayor Reyes’ house in Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City to receive money, which they said weakened the respondents’ denial of close association with the gunman who had turned witness for the complainant.

Edrad, in his earlier affidavit, confessed hiring gunman Marlon Recamata and other men and then claimed that Mayor Reyes, on instructions of the former governor, gave him P500,000 as reward for the killing of Ortega. The Reyes brothers admitted paying the gunman but only for P5,000.

With this, the DOJ thumbed down the alibi as “unreliable since they run contrary to human experience.”