Arrest warrant out for Marrero

A LOCAL court has issued a warrant of arrest against an architect involved in the killing of a son of an Agrarian Reform official in Baguio City.

The warrant against Joseph Marrero was issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 3 presiding Judge Fernando Vil Pamintuan after the case information was transmitted from the prosecutor’s office to Baguio Clerk of Court.

Click here for Election 2010 updates

Marrero, along with Ernesto Genetiano and Rolando Tomon, was charged for the murder of Jude Wal II, a graduating student of Saint Louis University, in 2008.

Genetiano and Tomon have been in jail since their voluntary surrender on October 2008. Marrero, on the other hand, remains free.

Provincial Prosecutor Danilo Bumacod of San Fernando City did not recommend any bail for the suspects’ temporary liberty.

The court also denied Marrero’s motion to defer issuance of a warrant of arrest against him, saying a motion for reconsideration either with the prosecutor’s office or the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not defer the issuance.

“After a careful study of the record of this case, this court finds probable cause against Joseph Marrero, thus sustaining the earlier resolution of the DOJ finding probable cause against all the accused,” a portion of Pamintuan’s order stated.

The warrants for Genetiano and Tomon, meanwhile, were sent to the city jail where they are currently detained. They are scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. on March 23.

Genetiano is the self-confessed triggerman in the murder of Wal II last January 25, 2008. Tomon was the lookout in the early morning killing.

Both pointed to Marrero as the mastermind.