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Ex-PDEA official arrested over slay of Cebu lawyer


The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Central Visayas has arrested a former official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) who allegedly "supervised" the murder of Joey Luis Wee in Cebu City last November 2020.

Operatives arrested retired Army Colonel Edwin Layese, former director of PDEA Region 6, on January 13, NBI-7 Director Renan Oliva said in a press conference livestreamed by The Freeman on Monday afternoon.

"We have documentary, electronic, and testimonial evidence to show that Edwin Layese is involved in the said killing not only as a participant but as the supervisor in the case of Atty. Wee," Oliva said.

He said Layese was not the mastermind but a contractor hired to plan and execute the ambush.

Wee was killed in broad daylight outside his office building in Cebu City last November 23, barely a week after lawyer Eric Jay Magcamit was shot dead while on his way to a hearing in Palawan.

One suspect in Wee's death, Fausto Edgar Peralta, was arrested in Laguna on December 8.

A third lawyer, Baby Maria Concepcion Landero-Ole, was shot dead in Looc, Danao City on December 17.

Oliva claimed that Layese was also involved in the attack on another Cebu lawyer, James Joseph Gupana, last October. Gupana survived.

More than 50 lawyers have been killed since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in 2016.—AOL, GMA News

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