Ivler's mother says son now in Hawaii

MANILA, Philippines - The mother of Jason Ivler yesterday claimed that the murder suspect is now in Hawaii.

As this developed, another arrest warrant was issued against Ivler yesterday afternoon and with the new resolution from the court, he can no longer post bail once arrested by authorities. In a phone interview with The STAR after she was visited by the police yesterday afternoon, Marlene Aguilar cited an e-mail that she purportedly received from Ivler, with her son claiming that he had gone to Hawaii. The purported e-mail did not state when and how Ivler managed to slip out of the Philippines.

Aguilar said that apart from the e-mail she received from her son, she never had any contact or phone conversation with the latter since he was implicated in the killing of Renato Victor Ebarle Jr.

With the new arrest warrant against her son, Aguilar said the charges being hurled at Ivler has left her “heartbroken.”

The new arrest warrant was issued by Judge Vicencio Baclig of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 76. The court resolution on the murder charges did not recommend bail for Ivler’s temporary liberty.

Quezon City Police District director Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego said they have intensified efforts to hunt down the suspect. “We will go after him at all cost,” he said. Ivler – who had been accused of killing Ebarle Jr. during a traffic altercation on the night of Nov. 18 – is the subject of an earlier arrest warrant in connection with the death of presidential adviser Nestor Ponce during a traffic accident back in 2004 that Ivler and Ponce figured in.

Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano, head of the QCPD’s Homicide Investigation Section, said Ivler’s earlier case of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide is a bailable offense. In the earlier arrest warrant, bail had been set at P230,000. Ivler has been evasive and is believed by the police to be roaming around still carrying with him the gun that he allegedly used to kill Ebarle.

The earlier arrest warrant against Ivler in connection with the reckless imprudence resulting in homicide charges was the one used by the police in past searches at houses believed to have been visited by the suspect after the killing of Ebarle Jr. Police authorities have scattered all over Metro Manila posters of Ivler to further inform the public about his run-ins with the law. Authorities have put up reward money worth P1 million for tipsters who could help law enforcers arrest the road rage murder suspect. San Diego also appealed for the surrender of Ivler but also warned coddlers of legal actions that could be taken against them.

QCPD officials went to Aguilar’s house in Blue Ridge A Subdivision yesterday afternoon after the issuance of the second arrest warrant against Ivler to convince her – if she was aware of her son’s whereabouts – to surrender the suspect or tell her son to yield to the police. Elenzano expressed disbelief at Aguilar’s claims, noting that these again could be just tactics to divert them in their manhunt against the murder suspect.

Lone suspect

In related development, lawyer Angelito Magno, chief of NBI Special Action Unit (SAU), had also denied an earlier report that came out in a website news that Ivler has left the country.

Ivler is the primary lone suspect tagged behind the murder of Ebarle Jr., son of Undersecretary Renato Ebarle Sr., of the Office of the Presidential Chief of Staff in Malacañang.

“There’s no confirmation that Ivler has fled out of the country. The reports are inaccurate,” Magno said. He said they are tapping the services of the Interpol in that they want to make sure their counterparts overseas are aware there is a possibility since Ivler might flee the country.

Magno described Ivler as a “flight risk,” and that precautionary measures must be made by the NBI. “This is nothing new. Asking the help of the Interpol has always been a standard operating procedure being made by the NBI for suspects whom we consider as flight risk or has the capability to go abroad and hide from their case. But rest assured, Ivler is still in the country,” Magno said.

With the issuance of the new warrant of arrest, the NBI will be able to request for the Interpol’s Red Notice.

Magno assured the public they are closely monitoring Ivler in order to make sure that he would not escape through the supposed unofficial or backdoor points in the country. An online news report said that Ivler may be a subject of an Interpol red notice, used for the provisional arrest of wanted persons, with a view to extradition.

The Interpol is the world’s largest international police organization, with 188 member countries. 

The Interpol said in its website that an Interpol Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant. These Interpol red notices represent only a tiny fraction of the number of red notices issued by Interpol, it said.

The persons concerned are wanted by national jurisdictions (or the International Criminal Tribunals, where appropriate) and Interpol’s role is to assist the national police forces in identifying or locating those persons with a view to their arrest and extradition.

These red notices allow the warrant to be circulated worldwide with the request that the wanted person be arrested with a view to extradition.