EDITORIAL - Armed and dangerous

Here’s another example of what happens when a criminal is allowed to get off lightly. Jason Ivler jumped bail after killing Resettlement Undersecretary Nestor Ponce, a Malacañang official, in a traffic accident way back in 2004. Whether or not that was merely an accident has not been determined by the Pasig Regional Trial Court, which is still deliberating on the homicide case filed against Ivler. Whether or not anyone tried to look for the accused who jumped bail is also unclear.

What is clear, according to police investigators, is that Ivler figured in another traffic incident on Wednesday last week at the corner of Santolan Road and Ortigas Avenue. Senior Police Officer 2 Edgar Tiodin, who witnessed the incident, said Ivler shot Renato Ebarle Jr. in an altercation. Ebarle, the son of a Malacañang official, was killed. Tiodin chased Ivler, who was in his stepfather’s Honda CRV with diplomatic license plates, but lost the suspect in New Manila. The CRV has been found and traced to Asian Development Bank economist Stephen Pollard, who is married to Ivler’s mother Marlene Aguilar, a sister of folk singer Freddie Aguilar.

Police have raided the homes of the Pollards and Freddie Aguilar but have failed to find Ivler. Anyone who harbors this fugitive – his status even before Ebarle’s killing, since Ivler jumped bail – must be indicted as well. Amid news reports of Ivler’s latest caper, another man complained to the police that the suspect had also threatened to kill him during a traffic altercation on the eve of Ebarle’s death. After going unpunished for the death of Ponce five years ago, Ivler apparently believes he can continue getting away with killing people.

The cops should stop their pathetic pleading for Ivler’s relatives to turn him over to authorities. If those relatives had wanted to, they would have done so when Ivler jumped bail, instead of inviting him over to their homes for breakfast and dinner. The cops should just find Ivler and arrest him together with anyone who assists him in hiding, before this homicidal lowlife strikes again.