MOISES Padilla Vice Mayor Ian Villaflor and Sangguniang Bayan (SB) Member Jimmie Don Plaza voluntarily surrendered Wednesday, September 1, 2021, to Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer after six months of hiding.
Both Villaflor and Plaza are facing murder charges relative to the killing of SB member Jolomar Hilario also of the town in 2019.
The two officials have been detained at the National Bureau of Investigation-Bacolod Office after the turn-over Wednesday, NBI-Bacolod Head Renoir Baldovino said.
Baldovino said the two will be detained at their office while they file a petition to bail before the court through their legal counsel.
Ferrer said Villaflor and Plaza called him and informed him of their plan to surrender to him.
" For me, they made the right decision so that they won't be considered as fugitives anymore and that it would be up to the court to decide the charges against them based on evidence and witnesses," Ferrer said.
He said Baldovino and the two official's counsel lawyer Elinore Garaygay were present during the surrender of the two at his office yesterday morning.
The two have been issued with warrants of arrest by the court.
"They may have studied all the legal moves and aspects of their case that's why it took them three months to surrender," Ferrer added.
Ferrer said it is part of his advocacy to uphold the law at all times and that he is willing to facilitate any others who are also facing charges and are willing to surrender to authorities.
Ferrer said it would be up to the court to decide if the case is politically motivated indeed as alleged or not.
The La Carlota City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 63 has released an arrest warrant for 14 people who were allegedly involved in the murder of Moises Padilla Councilor Jolomar Hilario in March 2019.
The arrest warrants were issued by Judge Cyclamen Jison Fernandez, Presiding Judge of La Carlota City RTC Branch 63, dated February 15, 2021. The said murder cases are not bailable.
Hilario was running for reelection at the time of the murder.
Based on an official report by the Moises Padilla town police back in 2019, Hilario was sleeping when around 50 armed individuals on board three trucks arrived and broke inside the victim's home identifying themselves as insurgents from the New People's Army.
The suspects shot Hilario multiple times, and at the same time threatened his wife and children, although they were left unharmed.