FORMER Palawan governor Joel Reyes has surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) said Thursday, September 12, 2024.
Citing information from a source, the PTFoMS said Reyes voluntarily turned himself in to the NBI-National Capital Region (NCR) on Wednesday, September 11.
No other details are available.
Reyes and his brother, former Coron town mayor Mario Reyes, and eight others, were facing murder charges in relation to the killing of broadcast journalist and environmentalist Dr. Gerry Ortega in Puerto Princesa City on January 24, 2022.
Ortega is a staunch critic of the Reyeses who are accused of corruption and permitting the exploitation of Palawan’s forests and minerals.
The Reyes brothers were arrested in Thailand in 2015 but they were released from detention in 2018 following an order from the Court of Appeals.
In 2019, the ruling was ordered to be reversed, leading to the revival of the trial.
The Supreme Court ordered in July 2023 the re-arrest of Reyes after the tribunal found that the lower courts did not commit grave abuse of discretion in finding the former governor liable for the killing of Ortega.
It also permitted the transfer of his trial from Palawan to a Quezon City court in January this year. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)
