No arrest warrant yet for massacre suspect

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — Police authorities are urging the court here to issue an arrest warrant for the extradition of a Filipino seaman who is facing parricide charges for the massacre of his wife and three children.

Chief Inspector Narciso Verdadero, provincial police intelligence officer, said the Bayombong Municipal Trial Court (MTC) has yet to issue a warrant for Danilo Afalla whom Miami authorities arrested last Friday in connection with the brutal slaying of his 40-year-old wife Recy and three children, Chinnee Claire, 13; Mark Anthony, 11; and Michael Angelo, 5.

Authorities here confirmed Afalla’s arrest near the Miami port by US Immigration and Naturalization Service agents in Miami, Florida. He is now being held without bond in Miami pending a deportation hearing.

Verdadero said they are working on the warrant’s release to pave the way for Afalla’s extradition to the Philippines.

Police filed multiple parricide charges against Afalla and two John Does two weeks ago with the sala of MTC Judge Alexander Balut here.

The court, however, still has to set the date for the preliminary investigation to determine if there are enough grounds to order Afalla’s arrest.

Verdadero said circumstantial evidence shows that Afalla committed the crime due to extreme jealousy, possibly aggravated by the intake of illegal drugs.

Afalla, a seaman who hails from this town, slipped out of the country last April 19, a day after the decomposing bodies of his family were discovered in a shallow grave along the bank of the Magat River here.

Autopsy showed the victims were strangled to death about two to three days before their bodies were found.

"It was strange for a father to be leaving the country when something has happened to his family," Verdadero said.

The Afalla family, who resided in Taytay, Rizal, came here last March 30 to spend the summer with the relatives of Danilo, who arrived in the country for his regular vacation last March 7.

They were reportedly going to Baguio City for a short vacation last April 2. Nothing was heard from them since then, until the bodies were dug up last April 18.