CIDG arrests mastermind in the slay of Bohol environmental lawyer

CEBU CITY– Agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) on Friday arrested the alleged mastermind and gunman in the killing of environmental lawyer Mia Manuelita Mascariñas-Green in Bohol province in February.

Lloyd Lancer Gonzaga, 34, did not resist arrest when the agents served three arrest warrants against him inside a house in Davao City past 3 p.m.

“We finally found him,” Chief Insp. Hector Amancia, CIDG-7 deputy director, told the Inquirer over the phone.

Gonzaga would be brought to his set to be brought to the CIDG-7 office in Cebu City on Monday before he would be presented to the three courts that issued the arrest warrants against him.

Judge Lindecita Arcamo of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 1 in Tagbilaran City issued a warrant of arrest against Gonzaga for the crime of murder. No bail was recommended.

He was also facing four counts of attempted murder pending at the sala of Judge Leo Moises of RTC Branch 3, and illegal possession of firearms, at Judge Jorge Cabalit of the RTC 48.

Agents of the CIDG-7 coordinated with their counterparts in Davao City to arrest Gonzaga. Gonzaga, a resident of Panglao town in Bohol, was tagged as the mastermind in the killing of Mascariñas-Green who was shot while driving home with her three children and nanny last Feb. 15.

Based on the investigation, Gonzaga was linked to the killing after he was seen in a heated argument with Mascariñas-Green inside the courtroom recently, police said.

Mascariñas-Green was the lawyer of Conrada Blomqvist who sued Gongaza over a land conflict in Panglao town which is popular for its white sand beaches in Bohol.