THE top most wanted person in Western Visayas was arrested in a shopping mall at Marikina City Friday afternoon.
Collared was Antonio Aquino, a native of Negros Occidental.
Joint operatives of Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO), Regional Intelligence Division-Western Visayas, Manila and Marikina policemen spotted Aquino around 2 p.m. inside a mall, where he is working as a janitor.
Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, head of IPPO, said they served two arrest warrants for murder against Aquino.
Tayaba said the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has placed a reward money of P300,000 for Aquino's arrest.
The police official said Aquino is the primary suspect in the killing of Bonifacio Merindad, a government employee in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo Province in 2004.
Aquino was also involved in the killing of two others in Jordan, Guimaras and Cabatuan, Iloilo province.
Tayaba said they previously conducted operations against Aquino in Iloilo, Negros Occidental, areas of Tondo, Caloocan and Antipolo, Rizal in Manila but failed to arrest him.
Aquino has been hiding for almost 14 years, he added.
It was through intelligence gathering and the help of the community that led to Aquino's arrest in Marikina, where he stayed for several years already, Tayaba said.
"There was no resistance on his part because he was also aware of the crimes he committed," Tayaba said.
Tayaba said Aquino was also previously part of the Trion robbery group, a notorious crime group in the province of Iloilo, which was already neutralized by the police.
He added they are also consolidating reports if Aquino has other arrest warrants for robbery.
Aquino is now under the custody of IPPO.