Tracker teams going after ex-Palawan gov

MANILA, Philippines - Tracker teams of the Philippine National Police (PNP) are going after former Palawan governor Joel Reyes who refused to surrender after he was ordered arrested along with other accused in the killing of broadcaster Gerry Ortega in January last year, PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said.

The tracker teams were formed after Reyes said he would not give himself up despite the arrest order issued by Judge Angelo Arizala of the Palawan Regional Trial Court Branch 52.

“The police will enforce the law without fear of favor. We have formed tracker teams to implement or serve the warrant,” Cruz said.

No bail recommended was recommended for Reyes and the other accused.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo advised Reyes yesterday to face the charges against him, saying “hiding will not help his case.”

Ortega, 47, was shot and killed by gunman Marlon Recamata in front of an ukay-ukay (used clothing) store in Puerto Princesa City on Jan. 24, 2011.

Recamata, who was arrested after the killing, later confessed that his group was hired for the hit job in exchange for P150,000.

In a statement from hiding issued Thursday night or two days after he was ordered arrested, Reyes said he would answer the accusations against him in due time.

“I will face the accusation in due time. I’m just here, hiding in your hearts not to run away from justice but to avoid their continuing persecution and baseless allegation,” he said in Filipino in an audio recording e-mailed to media networks.

Reyes warned that if anything ever happened to him while in hiding, the public should know who were behind his death.

Earlier this month, the DOJ ordered the indictment of Reyes, his brother Coron Mayor Mario Reyes Jr., former provincial administrator Romeo Seratubias, close-in aide Arturo Regalado, and Valentin Lecias after a reinvestigation by a second panel of state prosecutors on the complaint filed by Ortega’s widow Patria Gloria. Seratubias is now in police custody.

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

The government has been pressured to act on Ortega’s killing in the wake of frequent criticism by media organizations and human rights groups that the Philippines is one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists.  – With Edu Punay