1 charged in HLURB lawyer's slay

MANILA, Philippines - Police have identified and filed charges against the man who allegedly shot dead a lawyer working for the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.

Gelacio Vero, 35, was charged with murder before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office yesterday for the death of Leonard Soriano, 42, an arbiter at the HLURB’s legal division, according to Chief Inspector Rodelio Marcelo.

Marcelo, who heads the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU), said a check with the National Bureau of Investigation showed that Vero – a native of Calumpit, Bulacan – also faces murder and homicide charges in Nueva Ecija.

Soriano was shot dead by a lone gunman while he was driving out of the HLURB gate along Kalayaan Road in Barangay UP Village while on his way to his routine badminton game. The gunman fled with a male accomplice on a motorcycle.

Inspector Elmer Monsalve, chief of the CIDU’s homicide section, said charges were filed after a picture of Vero was shown to a tricycle driver who witnessed the crime.

He said a vendor also identified Vero but refused to become a witness out of fear.

With the identification of the gunman, Monsalve hopes they would find out the motive for Soriano’s murder.