BACOLOD City – Former Negros Slashers star guard and former barangay captain Manuel “Maui” Huelar Jr. was gunned down yesterday afternoon in Barangay Villamonte here.
According to Police Colonel Henry Biñas, city police director, Huelar was shot in the back by still unidentified gunmen wearing facemasks at the vicinity of Villamonte Gym.
Huelar immediately died.
The motive of the murder was still unclear as this was being written.
Huelar, former barangay captain of Barangay 35, was arrested in a buy-bust operation of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Negros Island Region (PDEA-NIR) here in 2016.
He was the main subject in that operation that also resulted in the arrest of Joshua Robert Arroyo (grandson of former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo), and Christian Joseph Mijares.
Both Huelar and Mijares denied the illegal drug allegations, with the former cager saying he had not been using or selling drugs or protecting anyone involved in the illegal drug trade.
Huelar was released from detention in 2018 after a plea bargain.
No stranger to legal problems, Huelar had been served three arrest warrants in March 2016 for alleged carnapping, robbery, grave coercion, and arbitrary detention.
In November 2010, he was also suspected in jai-alai operations in Bacolod City.
Known for his hard court monicker “The Flying Fish,” the former University of St. La Salle and University of San Jose-Recoletos player was a former starting guard for the Negros Slashers in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA).
Huelar played alongside the MBA’s maiden MVP John Ferriols, Bacolodnon Reynel Hugnatan, Jack Tanuan, and Johnedel Cardel, now the head coach of Columbian in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). They went on to finish runner up in 1998 after losing to Pampanga in the finals.
Huelar also tried his luck in the professional ranks when he joined the 2004 PBA Rookie Draft where he was selected by FedEx Express but was not signed to a contract./PN
