After nearly seven years since the brazen daylight assassination of then Vice Mayor Alex Lubigan in 2018, a major development has emerged as a local court issued warrants of arrest against six individuals allegedly behind the crime.

In an interview with DZRH Boom Balita, Trece Martires City Mayor Gemma Buendia Lubigan, the widow of the slain vice mayor, confirmed that the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23 of Trece Martires issued the warrants last August 5, 2025.

According to Mayor Lubigan, the case had been pending since 2019 against the alleged gunman and accessories to the crime. The breakthrough came after the arrest of gunman Ariel Paiton, who had been in hiding for five years before being captured.

While detained at the NBI in 2023, Paiton executed an extrajudicial confession in February 2025, naming the masterminds and detailing the timeline of the killing.

The individuals facing arrest are identified as:

• Melencio “Jun” De Sagun (former mayor)

• Melandres “Melan” De Sagun (former mayor)

• Melandro “Andoy” De Sagun (son of the former mayor)

• Adrian “Og-og” dela Cruz (employee)

• Luis Abad Jr.

• Alex Paiton (brother of gunman Ariel Paiton, already in custody)

Mayor Lubigan revealed that the warrants have been disseminated to the Philippine National Police (PNP), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Bureau of Immigration to aid in the manhunt. Authorities are now tracing possible hideouts of the suspects, some of whom are believed to have fled abroad.

“Merong sinasabi na maaaring wala na sa bansa, wala na sa Pilipinas, pero may nagsasabi naman na nandito pa rin sa Pilipinas kaya ‘yon ‘yong tinututukan ng awtoridad,” she said.

Reflecting on the slow progress of the case, Mayor Lubigan admitted that in 2018, investigators only had hearsay evidence and a lone eyewitness. “Ang sinasabi that time ay hearsay evidence lang. So ang tangi lang naming pinanghahawakan ay ‘yong witness namin na nakakita kung sino ‘yong bumaril sa aking asawa,” she explained.

It was only after the gunman’s confession that authorities were able to establish the chain of command behind the killing. “Doon niya sinabi kung sino ‘yong mga nag-utos, paano nila isinagawa, bakit iniutos, at timeline para magawa ‘yong sinasabing pagpatay sa aking asawa,” Mayor Lubigan added.

Despite the issuance of warrants, the mayor stressed that justice remains unfinished until the suspects are apprehended and tried.

Former Vice Mayor Alex Lubigan was killed aboard his vehicle outside the Korean-Philippines Hospital in Cavite on July 7, 2018 adding to the controversial list of mayors and vice mayors who were killed during the Duterte administration.