NBI-8 nabs lawyer for murder

TACLOBAN CITY , Philippines— The National Bureau of Investigation-8 operatives arrested lawyer Aquilino Mejica in his residence in Oras town of Eastern Samar on Thursday, for a pending murder case.

The arrest came a day after a warrant of arrest against Mejica was issued by Regional Trial Court-Branch 6 executive Judge Alphinor Serrano Sr.

NBI-8 senior investigator Remegio Lavilla said the 44-year-old lawyer did not resist arrest when the warrant was served on him by the operatives, led by Rudy de Veyra at around 10 a.m. Thursday.

Mejica was then turned over to the RTC-branch 6, the court of origin, and is now detained at the Tacloban City Jail’s male dormitory, while the case is pending.

Mejica—also currently under suspension from his law practice for two years, as penalized by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Leyte chapter—was the primary suspect in the killing of 50-year-old Jess Archimedes Moscare, who was the architect and project consultant of the Leyte Normal University in Tacloban.

Moscare was gunned down on June 6 last year inside his office at the LNU Library building.

One of the motives in the killing that came up in our investigation was jealousy, The lawyer’s wife was allegedly having an affair with Moscare, said the NBI investigator.

Mejica however belied all the allegations, and he refused to talk to the media. (FREEMAN)