A wanted person who has been charged in court with murder for the killing the son of a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent has been arrested in Bulacan.
NBI Director Jaime B. Santiago presented on Tuesday, Feb. 18, the arrested fugitive whom he identified as John Michael Serrano Garcia.
Santiago said Garcia was arrested at the house of his aunt in Barangay Mambog, Malolos City by operatives of the NBI’s Pampanga District Office (NBI-PAMDO) in collaboration with the bureau’s Technical Intelligence Division (TID), Ilocos Regional Office (IRO), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Dagupan District Office (DADO) following months of tracking him down.
He said Garcia's arrest was a result of the warrant issued by the Baguio City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 78 where Garcia is facing charges of murder and attempted murder.
“Subject is currently detained at NBI-PAMDO pending the issuance of a Commitment Order by the Honorable Court,” the NBI said.
It said the charges against Garcia stemmed from the killing of Luke Macaraeg, a son of an NBI agent, on Nov. 24, 2024 in Happy Homes located in Barangay Ferdinand, Baguio City.
The bureau said “witnesses disclosed that Garcia’s target was actually Gino Manolo Castillo Banta because of the latter's past relationship with Garcia’s girlfriend, who earlier had sexual trysts with Banta.”
After the shooting incident, the NBI said “Garcia went into hiding and has been moving to different places within Baguio City, Pangasinan and La Union based on technical surveillance.”
“Task Force Garcia was then organized by this Bureau composed of Agents from PAMDO, TID, IRO, CAR and DADO,” it said.
“Relentless efforts and intelligence gathering of the members of the Task Force continuously and successfully tracked Garcia’s location,” it also said.