Daraga Mayor Baldo charged with murder over Batocabe killing

The Department of Justice has charged Daraga Mayor Carlwyn Baldo with murder and attempted murder in connection with the killing of Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe last year.

In a resolution seen Thursday, prosecutors found probable cause to charge the town mayor and five others with two counts of murder for the deaths of the congressman and his aide, SPO2 Orlando Diaz, last December.

The raps were filed before the Legazpi City Regional Trial Court on Thursday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.

The raps were filed before the Legazpi City Regional Trial Court.

Also charged were Christopher Naval, Emmanuel Rosello, Jaywin Babor, Henry Yuson,  and Rolando Arimado, according to the resolution.

Six counts of attempted murder were filed against the same persons.

One Danilo Luella was charged as an accomplice in the double murder case and in the attempted murder cases, said Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon.

Batocabe and Diaz were killed at an elementary school in Daraga, Albay, where they attended a gift-giving activity for senior citizens and persons with disabilities, on Dec. 22, 2018.

In its resolution, the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of Camarines Sur said Naval, Yuson, Rosello, Babor, and Arimado admitted their conspiracy and participation in the killing of Batocabe and Diaz.

"They coordinated with each other from the planning to the preparation and to the execution stage. They were motivated by a single criminal impulse -- to kill Cong. Batocabe," the resolution stated.

"With respect to respondent Carlwyn Baldo, there is likewise probable cause to indict him as a conspirator in the murders of Cong. Batocabe and Diaz because the declarations made by the other conspirators is admissible against him," it added.

The National Bureau of Investigation earlier found that the killing may have been politically motivated. Batocabe was eyeing the Daraga mayor's seat in the May midterm elections.

Baldo had denied he had a hand in the crime.—NB, GMA News