Senior Supt. Ricardo Marquez, acting director of NEPPO, identified the suspects as Leonilo Sarmiento of Barangay Vertese, Quezon and Virgilio Domingo, 40, of Barangay San Miguel, also of this town.
They were tagged on the killing of Renato Fermin, president of the Association of Barangay Captains and ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Bayan of Jaen, Nueva Ecija last October.
Marquez said Sarmineto was cornered by the operatives from the police’s 307th provincial mobile group in Barangay Vertese at about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday while Domingo was arrested inside a fastfood in Cabanatuan City on Sunday.
Their arrest was effected on the strength of warrants issued by the Regional Trial Court, according to Marquez.
It can be recalled that Fermin was killed in broad daylight inside his compound in Jaen by two men who pretended to be applying for permit to raise ducks within the village. Local officials condemned the assassination even as his family blamed politics for his fate.
“Fermin never had an enemy,” said his relatives and fellow municipal officials.
Rep. Rodolfo Antonino of Nueva Ecija’s 4th district earlier offered P1-million whoever will give information that will lead to the arrest of the suspects.
Seized from Sarmiento, was a .9mm pistol, Marquez said. The motive of the killing has yet to be ascertained.
After Fermin, unidentified men also killed Barangay Captain Guillermo Bernardo of San Francisco, Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija last December. Bernardo was also the town’s ABC president.
