Buddha beads again, people

From the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines comes this October 18 alert. After the Marlene Esperat case, will Arnulfo Villanueva's case the next one solved? It's time to bring out our Buddha beads again.

Arrest warrants out against killers of Cavite journalist

A judge in Cavite province has issued last October 17 warrants of arrest for three men suspected of killing a community paper columnist in Naic, Cavite more than a year ago.

Supt. Elwin Fernandez, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection group (CIDG) in Cavite, said Judge Nerio Castigador of Branch 15 of the Naic regional trial court issued the arrest warrants for the suspects who allegedly gunned down Arnulfo Villanueva, columnist of Cavite-based Asian Star Express Balita, on February 28, 2005.

Castigador issued the warrants after the provincial prosecutor's office recommended the filing of homicide charges against the supposed gunmen, Fernandez said.

He added that he has already formed an arresting team to go after the suspects who were supposedly hiding somewhere in the province.

He then claimed that they have solved the killing of the journalist with the issuance of the warrants of arrest.

"As far as we are concerned, this case is already solved. We are now focusing on the immediate arrest of the suspects," Fernandez told reporters.

Villanueva, 43, was found dead along an irrigation road shortly after he left his house in Barangay Munting Mapino.