Killer of Cagayan mayor, three bodyguards nabbed

By Armand Tamaray

RIZAL, Cagayan — One of Cagayan Valley’s most wanted was arrested by elements of the regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit in Pateros, Metro Manila, police reported Feb. 24.

Alfredo Alvarez, 54, tagged in the ambush- slay of a town mayor and three others in Cagayan Valley, did not resist when undercover cops led by Chief Insp. Julius Caesar Mana, head of the Bulacan Criminal Investigation and Detection Team, pounced on him inside a cockpit arena along M. Almeda St., Barangay Martinez in Pateros.

Alvarez ranks 5th in the police list of wanted persons in Cagayan Valley.

He was tagged as the gunman in the ambush-slay of Rizal, Cagayan Mayor Raul de la Cruz and three of his bodyguards in December 2008 along the national highway in Barangay Maddarulug, Solano, Cagayan.

Senior Supt. Marvin Bolabola, regional chief of the 3CIDU, said his men had a warrant of arrest against Alvarez issued by Judge Jimmy Lucson Jr. of the Tuguegarao City Regional Trial Court for the crime of murder. The families of the late mayor and the other victims expressed thanks for the fugitive’s arrest.