LAOAG CITY—Two members of a gun-for-hire syndicate, tagged as suspects in the slaying of the legal officer of Laoag City in December last year, were arrested in separate police operations in northern Luzon recently.

Ilocos Region Police Director Chief Superintendent Leopoldo N. Bataoil said the two, including another who is still at large, were believed as the killers of Jose Antonio “Pepoc” Pastor, 49, inside his law office at Barangay 7A in Laoag, just a few meters away from Laoag City Hall.

Petronillo Ravena, leader of the Ravena guns-for-hire syndicate and a henchman, Efren Alagao, tagged as the one who shot Pastor with a caliber 45 pistol are now under police custody.

The alleged look-out, identified as a certain Mark Tylan, is still at large and now the object of an intensive police manhunt.

The suspects were arrested by combined elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) headed by Senior Superintendent Marvin Bolabola and other police units in Ilocos region.

Ravena was arrested in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur while Alagao, who was identified by witnesses as the triggerman, was arrested in Abra, Bolabola said.

The suspects could also be responsible for other slayings of known personalities in northern Luzon, police said.

It was recalled that Pastor was declared dead on arrival at the Gov. Roque B. Ablan Memorial Hospital after being shot twice in the head and once at the back.