Bohol lawyer slay suspect arrested in Davao City —police official

TAGBILARAN CITY—Police have arrested the suspect in the killing of Bohol environmental lawyer Atty. Mia Mascariñas-Green, four months after lawmen launched the hunt.  

Lloyd Lancer Gonzaga, 34, was arrested in Davao City last Friday afternoon by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, CIDG 7 chief Supt. Royina Marzan Garma said on Saturday.

CIDG-7's operatives, in coordination with the elements of the CIDG Region 11, arrested Gonzaga in one of  his houses in Barangay 23-C, Juan Luna Street in Davao City.

The arrest came after the suspect was sighted in Ladislawa Garden Village in Barangay Buhangin, also in Davao City.

Judge Jorge Cabalit of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 48 in Tagbilaran City issued a warrant for Gonzaga's arrest for illegal possession of firearms. No bail was recommend for the suspect.

On the other hand, Judge Lindecita Arcamo of the RTC Branch 1 in Tagbilaran City issued the warrant for his arrest for murder and four counts of attempted murder.

“He didn’t resist when arrested.  He yielded peacefully,” said Garma.

Meanwhile, the family and friends of Green were happy over Gongaza's arrest.

“God is good. God heard our prayers,” said Amor Maria Vistal  who posted on Facebook. 

“This is the first step towards justice. It has been 135 days since Mia was brutally gunned down in Tagbilaran City,” said a certain Edik Dolotina.

“The arrest of Lloyd Lance Gonzaga after 133 days from the brutal death of Atty. Mia Mascarinas-Green is a very welcomed news to all of us who are seeking justice for her death,” said Pat Ruiz, one of the conveners of  “Justice for Atty. Mia Kalinaw sa Bohol Movement.”

Amor Maria Vistal, a close friend of Green said, "I was very elated when I learned  that Lloyd Gonzaga was arrested in Davao by the CIDG. Good job by the operatives of the PNP and CIDG. Justice has to be served for what he did to Atty. Mia and the pain that it has brought to her family and friends."               

"The important thing to do for us right now is to be more vigilant that the wheels of justice will run its course and that the accused will serve in jail," she added.                                  

Vistal also said she hopes the other suspect, Romirico Benigian, will be arrested soon.

The “Justice for Atty. Mia Kalinaw sa Bohol Movement” was formed by Green’s family, civil society groups, religious sector, academe, and members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)-Bohol Chapter to put pressure on the police to solve the killing of Green and other unsolved crimes in the province.

According to Garma, Gonzaga is being detained in CIDG 11 in Davao City and on Monday morning he will be transported to CIDG Central Visayas.

Gonzaga is expected to be brought to Bohol on Monday afternoon to face charges lodged against him at the three different courts.

Gonzaga, a resident of Panglao town in Bohol, was tagged as the mastermind in the killing of Green who was shot while driving home with her three children and nanny last Feb. 15 at the corner of H. Zamora and J.A. Clarin Streets in Tagbilaran City's Dao District.

The crime allegedly stemmed from a property dispute in Panglao between Gonzaga and his mother-in-law Conrada Blomqvist, who was Green’s client. —LBG, GMA News