Binay hails arrest of suspect in UNA exec's gun slay

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Jejomar Binay hailed yesterday the arrest of a suspect in the killing of former Makati City engineer Nelson Morales, chairman of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) in Albay.

Binay asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) to bring the masterminds in the killing of Morales behind bars.

“I applaud the swift action taken by the police in capturing the people who carried out this despicable crime. But for the death of Nelson Morales to be truly given justice, the persons who plotted the killing should be made to pay for their crimes,” Binay said.

Morales was gunned down last Friday after serving as sponsor in a wedding in Barangay Estancia, Malinao, Albay.

At the time of his death, Morales chaired the Albay chapter of UNA, the coalition formed by the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan and the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.

Morales also served as Makati City engineer when Binay was still the mayor of Makati.

Binay said Morales was planning to run for mayor of Malinao town in next year’s elections as an UNA bet.

He lamented that Morales was deprived of the opportunity to serve his hometown the way he had served the people of Makati.

“I hope that these cowardly assassins will all be put behind bars,” he said.

Binay said election-related violence only mars the people’s right to suffrage and elect those who they think would serve them best, which he said was the “ultimate expression of democracy.”

Malinao town Councilor Erwin Pajot was quoted in a press conference as saying he believed the killing was politically motivated, even as he declined to elaborate. – With Mike Frialde