Suspect in Leyte vice mayor’s slay nabbed, charged

ORMOC CITY, Philippines – A suspect in the murder of a Leyte municipal vice mayor, who was gunned down outside his restaurant last Nov. 17, has been arrested and charged.

Joel Dejon, 34, was nabbed by agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in an entertainment bar in Leyte town on Nov. 30, or two weeks after Villaba Vice Mayor Claudio Martin Larrazabal was killed.

Police filed murder charges against the suspect and three other men, whose names were withheld pending their arrests.

The charges were filed last Dec. 10 with the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor in Palompon town.

Three witnesses identified Dejon as one of the gunmen who shot Larrazabal.

The suspect also reportedly confessed his involvement in the killing.

Sources said Dejon has revealed to the police that the killing was politically motivated.

Larrazabal was a former three-term mayor of Villaba before he ran for vice mayor. He was reportedly planning to run as mayor in the 2016 elections.

Police said Dejon had been convicted and jailed for the murder of a village chief in his hometown in Leyte town.