Former Palawan Governor Joel T. Reyes INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines—Former Palawan Gov. Joel T. Reyes managed to slip out of the country on March 18 via Cebu Pacific flight 5J751 bound for Vietnam, according to highly placed government sources.
Reyes and his brother Mario, mayor of Coron, have been in hiding since warrants of arrest were issued against them on March 27 for the murder of Palawan journalist and environmentalist Gerry Ortega.
The information given to media was that Reyes was able to slip through immigration using a fake passport bearing the name Joseph Lim Pe but carrying his real photograph. The passport was supposedly issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs on February 3, 2012.
The Ortega family has declined to issue a statement on the report.
“We will have to first consult our lawyers because this may have some bearing on the ongoing case,” Michaella Ortega, the victim’s daughter, told the Inquirer.
Reyes was indicted by the Department of Justice in February this year based on evidence that
he had ordered the hit on Ortega, a staunch radio critic of his administration.
Reyes and his brother, claiming innocence, went into hiding as their lawyers tried to appeal their case in the Court of Appeals. Redempto D. Anda, Inquirer Southern Luzon