Manila: The suspect in a road rage murder incident in Manila on Monday night was arrested in a tandem operation by soldiers and police personnel in a far-flung village in central Philippines on Friday.

Vhon Martin Tanto who is accused of gunning down Mark Vincent Garalde, a bicycle rider, following an altercation on Casal Street was arrested during the joint operation of the Army’s Intelligence and Security Group, regional military division, and local policemen in Poblacion village East, Milagros town, Masbate province, 500 kilometres south of Manila, before noon of Friday, said Army chief Lt. Gen. Eduardo Ano.

“The suspect did not resist arrest,” Ano said.

Former president and current Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada had earlier increased the bounty on the suspect’s head from 100,000 pesos (Dh7,780) to 200,000 pesos, Ano added.

“The effort to locate Tanto began as soon as he was identified as the driver of a red Hyundai Eon who blocked, boxed, shot, and killed Mark Vincent Garalde while the latter was on his bicycle on P. Casal Street, Quiapo district, Monday night,” said Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr. in Camp Crame, suburban Quezon City.

“We responded to the public outcry in social media which showed images of Tanto in his car blocking Garalde’s bicycle; of Tanto and Garalde boxing each other on the road; of Tanto being overpowered, but [he] got into his car, took a gun and shot Garalde on his bicycle, once on the head and four times on the body,” said Padilla.

“We do not tolerate any scalawags. We make sure that those who committed a crime shall be dealt with accordingly,” Padilla said, adding that Tanto, a Philippine Army reservist with the rank of private, was assigned with the 1301st Community Defence Centre in Metro Manila’s northern suburban Caloocan City.

It was the Army Reserve Command that helped escalate the manhunt for Tanto after he couldn’t be traced at his house in Manila’s Arlegui Street on Monday night and after his car was found abandoned at the house of his brother-in-law in Nueva Vizcaya, northern Luzon last July 26, said Padilla, adding that the latter clue was misleading because Tanto hid in central Philippines.

“We do not condone any wrongdoing committed by any member of our organisation,” warned Army spokesperson Col. Benjamin Hao.

The Philippine National Police announced it has revoked the licences of Tantos’ three firearms.

The military had drawn flak after the incident on social media as closed-circuit-television footage of the road rage incident showed how Tanto also accidentally injured a bystander, Rocel Bondoc, 18, who was brought to Manila’s Mary Chiles Hospital. She was declared in a stable condition on Friday.

Authorities have blamed lack of control in the issuance of gun licences for the rising number of fatal road rage incidents in Metro Manila.