MANILA -- Malacanang on Monday commended the arrest of Jason Aguilar Ivler who was involved in the killing of a Palace official’s son last November.
Ivler was arrested inside a secret room at his house at Blue Ridge A Subdivision in Quezon City following a short gunfight with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents who raided his house around 6 a.m. Monday.
The 26-year-old American national has been confined at the Quirino Memorial Medical center after sustaining gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and left side of his abdomen.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, in a text message, said the arrest of Ivler, who has been a subject of police manhunt operation for about two months, was a relief for the family of Presidential deputy secretary Renato Ebarle, whose son and namesake was allegedly shot by Ivler in road rage arising from a minor traffic altercation along Quezon Avenue.
“The arrest of Ivler is a big personal relief to the Ebarle family and friends,” Remonde said.
He said the NBI agents and those who have helped in the arrest of Ivler should be given a high commendation.
Remonde meanwhile said that Ivler’s capture could help address the issue of road rage, which has been one of the alarming problems in the metro.
Ivler’s mother Marlene Aguilar-Pollard was also arrested by the police for allegedly harboring her son despite warrant of arrest.
Ebarle’s patriarch also said in an interview that even the step father of Ivler - Stephen Pollard, who works as economist in Asian Bank Development, - and their other household staff should also face charges for harboring Ivler.
Ivler was involved in a criminal case in August 2004 following a car accident resulting in the death of another Malacanang employee presidential adviser Nestor Ponce Jr. (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)