Mindanews: S. Kudarat ex-rep, treasurer elude arrest

The city treasurer of Tacurong in Sultan Kudarat and a former congressman managed to elude arrest last weekend for the killing of a former city treasurer and cashier in 2003. Online news site Mindanews reported Sunday that police from Maguindanao went to Tacurong City to serve the arrest warrants to the two for the double murder case. Sr. Insp. Lopiya Pangilayan, head of the Maguindanao Provincial Police Mobile Group, and nine of her men went to Tacurong to serve the warrant for the arrest of City Treasurer Doris Lapuz and former Rep. Angelo Montilla but both were nowhere to be found. Lapuz and Montilla were accused of masterminding the killing of former city treasurer Richard Escovia and a cashier at the City Treasurer’s Office in 2003. Pangilayan said she was told Lapuz had left her office just a few minutes after they arrived at the city hall. Reports said Lapuz slipped past police who failed to recognize her. She reportedly slipped out of City Hall and rode a tricycle, but Pangilayan said they still believe Lapuz and Montilla are just in the city. Court records showed Escovia and some employees at the City Treasurer’s Office were on their way to Davao City for an outing when unidentified armed men waylaid them along the highway in Buluan, Maguindanao. Police initially theorized robbery was the motive, but witnesses who surfaced said the killings were work-related and identified a certain Imelda Reyes, former employee at the City Treasury, as behind the murder. Reyes was arrested in 2005. But a year later, another witness came out who named Lapuz and Montilla as the alleged “real" masterminds. The case was re-filed and Reyes was released. Sultan Kudarat provincial police director Supt. Mamalintao Tocao urged Lapuz and Montilla to come out in the open and face the charges filed against them. “If they are really not part of the crime, so why hide? They must believe in the rule of court and the wheel of justice, and then tell the court what they know about the crime. They can’t hide forever," said Tocao. - GMANews.TV