Slain doctor’s pa wants trial moved to Manila

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – The filing of a murder complaint against four suspects in the killing of rural doctor Dreyfuss Perlas has given hope to the family of the victim that justice would be served.

“We’re happy with the filing of the case… It’s an answered prayer,” said Dennis Perlas, Dreyfuss’ father and councilor of Batan town in Aklan, said yesterday.

However, Perlas expressed concern that a warrant of arrest has yet to be issued.

Perlas said they would file a motion to transfer the hearings in Manila once the suspects are arrested.

He said they are worried about their safety if the trial would be conducted in Lanao del Norte. “It’s their turf,” he said.

A murder complaint was filed against three men, two of them alleged to be guns-for-hire, and a woman before the Lanao del Norte prosecutor’s office on March 21.

The doctor was driving a motorcycle in Barangay Maranding Annex in Kapatagan when two men on another motorbike shot him on March 1. He was on his way home in Barangay Maranding in nearby Lala town.

Perlas was a volunteer doctor in Lanao del Norte before he was hired as municipal health officer of Sapad.

Police are looking into reports that the doctor had figured in a quarrel with a relative of one of his patients.