Central Luzon newsman hunted for killing former partner, her lover

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – A columnist of a local newspaper is now being hunted by the police after he allegedly shot dead his former common-law wife and her lover here yesterday morning.

Chief Inspector Onnil de la Peña, chief of Police Station 2 this city, identified the suspect as Bernie Chavit, a reporter and columnist of Central Luzon Times and reportedly a grandson of lawyer Homobono Adaza.

De la Peña said the victims, Girlie David, 42, and Ernesto Briones, 52, said to be a former convict, each died from a gunshot wound in the head.

“It seemed that Briones was shot first while asleep. This woke up the woman who gave a brief struggle but she was also shot,” he said, adding that Chavit apparently used a gun with a silencer.

He said the killing happened in the house in Timog Park in Barangay Pampang where Chavit and David used to live together with their two children, now aged five and two, before they separated about a year ago, with Chavit moving out to stay with relatives elsewhere.

De la Peña said a security guard in the compound told police Chavit arrived onboard a tricycle at around 5:20 a.m. yesterday and left using David’s motorcycle at around 6 a.m.

Probers found slugs for a 9-mm. pistol in the bedroom where David and Briones were found dead.

The five-year-old child, who was sleeping in another room with his younger sister, apparently witnessed the crime and reportedly identified his father as the suspect.

A housemaid also told probers that she saw Chavit leaving the house at around 6 a.m. Chavit also allegedly took an undetermined amount of cash from his victims’ bedroom.

A friend of Chavit, who asked not to be identified, said the newsman got angry when David invited her lover to live in their home in Barangay Pampang soon after their separation.

“This angered Chavit, but this was aggravated further by Facebook postings of David showing photos of Briones wearing the clothes and other personal effects of Chavit,” the newsman’s friend added.

Briones was reportedly implicated in the killing of a local policeman but had served his sentence.