MANILA, Philippines – A lawyer based in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan died after he was attacked by a motorcycle-riding gunman on Tuesday, August 15.
The victim, Hermie S. Aban, used to be the lawyer of former Palawan governor Mario Joel Reyes and former Coron mayor Mario Reyes, principal suspects in the January 24, 2011 murder of broadcaster-environmental activist Gerry Ortega.
Aban was on a motorcycle and went out to buy food when he was gunned down by the still unidentified perpetrator at 8:30 a.m. on Abueg Road, Barangay Bancao-Bancao, dzBB radio said, quoting a report from Senior Police Officer 2 Eustaquio Ferrer of the city’s Mendoza Police Station.
The assailant chased Aban and shot him four times until the lawyer fell unconscious on a grassy portion of the road.
The report said Aban was rushed to the MMG-PPC Cooperative Hospital corner Burgos and Mabini Streets, but was later on pronounced dead.
Authorities recovered two empty shells of a .45-caliber pistol from the crime scene.
In September 2012, Ortega’s family filed a disbarment case against Aban for allegedly aiding in the escape of the Reyes brothers.
The brothers, along with Aban, left for Vietnam via a Cebu Pacific flight on March 18 of the same year, according to government records.
Aban was known in the city as a close friend of Puerto Princesa Vice Mayor Luis Marcaida III. He had clients who were accused of being involved in illegal drugs.
In March 2016, criminal charges were filed against Aban by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Region 4-B deputy regional director Sherwin Closa after the lawyer was accused of barging into the PDEA-4B headquarters in Puerto Princesa to intervene for his friend, Arvin Clavecilla.
Clavecilla was earlier arrested by anti-narcotics agents in a buy-bust operation.