Half-brother tagged in murder of Davao Occidental state prosecutor

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  — The police had arrested the half-brother of the lady state prosecutor killed in a gun attack in Barangay Aplaya in Digos City on Monday afternoon, tagged by witnesses as behind the incident.

Lt. Col. Florante Retes, chief of the Digos City Police Station, told reporters at noontime Tuesday that they are now in custody of Arnel Dela Peña, the alleged killer of her half-sister, Eleanor Polancos Dela Peña, assistant provincial prosecutor in Davao Occidental province.

Arnel was arrested by combined policemen and city officials somewhere near Barangay Aplaya on Monday night.

Retes said witnesses had positively identified Arnel as the gunman who killed with a pistol the 54-year-old Dela Peña, then driving her white Ford Raptor pick-up truck, on her way home to the Tienda area in Barangay Aplaya, a residential area in Digos City.

Retes said pursuing policemen had cornered Arnel after a brief search and seized from him the helmet and a hooded jacket that witnesses said he wore when he killed his half-sister in an ambush in Barangay Aplaya.

The police official said they have also confiscated from him the red Honda Click motorcycle that he rode as he escaped from the scene.

Retes said relatives of the half-siblings and friends have confirmed that they were locked in a longtime dispute over ownership of a parcel of family-owned land somewhere in Davao del Sur.

The office of the slain Dela Peña in Malita, Davao del Sur is not too distant from the Digos City where she was killed.