LUCENA City -- After nine years of hiding, police Intelligence operatives on Tuesday finally arrested one of the most wanted felons of Region 1 with a bounty of P300,000 on his head in Bgy. Salvacion, Echague, Isabela.

Senior Insp. Reynaldo Pañebe, head of the Quezon Provincial Intelligence Team of Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU) 4-A, identified the suspect as Macario Tadina, 32, of Bgy. Bagumbayan, San Juan, La Union.

Pañebe said they were armed with an arrest warrant issued by Judge Antonio Carbonell of San Fernando City Regional Trial Court, Branch 27 for robbery with homicide and was backed by elements of the Army’s 77th Infantry Battalion under 5th Infantry Division when they collared Tadina inside his house at around 4:30 p.m.

Tadina and his brother-in-law, Rolando Barayang, were the principal suspect in the killing of espouses Juan and Avelina Abat, of Bgy. Nagyubuyuban, San Fernando City, La Union, on March 1, 2003. The couple was robbed of P200,000 cash and jewelries.

Pañebe said Tadina and Barayang were the alleged leader of a dreaded gang engaged in robbery-holdup, akyat-bahay and cattle rustling in La Union.

He said the duo went into hiding at the house of Tadina's wife, Mary Anne who is the sister of Barayang, in Bgy. Mascariña, Quezon, Quezon, for a couple of years.

On April 14, last year, Pañebe said they arrested Barayang, who has a bounty of P300,000 on his head, at the house of his sister. He said Tadina was already working as seaman in Singapore.

Pañebe said Tadina managed to get a passport by changing his name and left on September 22, 2008. The suspect arrived in the Philippines on June 17, 2011 and lived in Echague, Isabela after marrying his new wife Annaliza Molina on August 25, 2011.

Tadina was turned over to La Union authorities on Thursday.