HERMOSA, Bataan – Combined forces of Hermosa MPS, 1st Provincial Mobile Force Company and Provincial Intelligence Branch on Sunday arrested one of the two suspects in the killing of a couple in Barangay Palihan of this municipality.
In a report from Police Senior Supt. Marcelo B. Dayag, Bataan Police Director, the suspect was identified as Leonardo Rieza, legal age, a resident of Purok 7 also in Barangay Palihan here.
Rieza was said to be the driver of a motorcycle used in the robbery with double homicide case. The gunman is still at-large and subject of a manhunt operation of the PNP.
At 6:47 p.m. On Saturday night, the victims, Erley Cubilla, 40 and Reggie Cubilla, 42, were shot by the suspects and later allegedly took a bag full of cash. The couple owns the Erley’s Samut Sari Store inside the Hermosa Public Market.
“Less than 8 hours ng aming Oplan Galugad ay nadakip namin ang suspect sa mismong tahanan nito at mismong dalawang witnesses ang nag identify sa kanya,” Hermosa MPS Chief, Senior Inspector Phoe Pangan told newsmen.
A motorcycle allegedly used in the crime was confiscated from Rieza.
Meanwhile, the suspect vehemently denied the allegations saying at the night of the killing, he was at a mountain resort in Orani town.
During an on-cam interview with the media, the suspect even identified himself as a member of a “military intelligence battalion”(MIB) but Pangan said Rieza was a rebel-returnee or a former member of the New People’s Army.