Philippines: Suspect in the 2001 killing of provincial journalist arrested

CMFR/Philippines—One of the two suspects in the 2001 killing of Aklan journalist Rolando Ureta was arrested at 7:45 am in front of the municipal hall in Numancia, Aklan on November 27. Aklan is a province approximately 345 km south of Manila.

Amador Raz, not Paz, was arrested by elements of the Aklan police in coordination with the Numancia police station on the strength of an arrest warrant issued by Aklan Regional Trial Court (RTC) branch 4 Judge Marieta Jomena Valencia dated 16 November 2007.

Raz did not resist arrest, said Senior Police Office Reynaldo Francisco, who heads the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Aklan. Francisco said about ten of his men, in coordination with the Numancia police station, served the arrest warrant on Raz, who is a municipal employee in Numancia. Francisco said that they are still looking for Jessie Ticar, Raz’s co-accused.

Raz, 58, was presented to Valencia by the police, and was later brought to the Aklan rehabilitation center, the provincial jail in Aklan. Raz will be arraigned on 29 November 2007. Valencia’s arrest warrant recommended no bail for the accused, as murder is a non-bailable offense.

Ureta, 30, then the program director of radio dyKR in Aklan, was killed while on his way home onboard his motorcycle in Lezo after his evening news broadcast on 3 January 2001, when an assassin riding pillion on a motorcycle shot him three times. He had been reporting on illegal gambling, illegal drugs, and corruption at the time he was killed.

After being dismissed twice by Aklan prosecutor Apolinar Barrios, the case against Raz and Ticar was reopened on 16 January 2007 after the Department of Justice (DoJ), acting on a petition for review filed by Ureta’s wife Emely, released a resolution ordering the reopening of the case. Raz and Ticar then filed a motion for reconsideration to the DoJ asking for the retention of the case’s earlier dismissal on 6 February 2007.

“The motion for reconsideration filed by the accused not having been resolved by the Department of Justice by the time the motion to hold in abeyance issuance of warrant of arrest was filed on Feb. 21, 2007 up to the present, let a warrant of arrest be issued against the accused in accordance with the resolution of the Secretary of Justice dated Jan. 16, 2007,” read the warrant of arrest issued by Valencia.