Judge Arles slay suspects yield

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines   â€” Three of the seven suspects, charged in court for the murder of Kabankalan RTC Judge Henry Arles, have surrendered to the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO) in this city last Aug. 22.

Suspects Jessie Daguia, Eddie Fortunado, and Alejandro Capunong-who are all members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB)- surrendered but insisted they were innocent of the crime. RPA-ABB is now known as Kapatiran para sa Progresong Panlipunan.

The three said they voluntarily surrendered to NOPPO to clear their names, and face the case filed against them. “We are not guilty of the charges,” said Daguia, adding that they believed the court will eventually prove their innocence.

Senior Supt. Milko Lirazan, NOPPO director, said the three suspects were accompanied by their leaders and Alan Gozon of the Negros Alliance of Human Rights Advocate. The three suspects are now detained at the Ilog Police Station, while he is securing a court order to remit the suspects to the Negros Occidental District Jail in Bago City, said Lizaran.

Daguia, Capunong, and Fortunado were arrested last year for illegal possession of firearms, and were put in custody of the NBI in Manila but the local courts in Bacolod ordered for their release upon bail.

There were earlier 10 suspects in the judge's murder, but last May, the Department of Justice cleared three of them-Ilog Vice Mayor John Paul Alvarez (who was Ilog mayor at the time of the murder), his father, former Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez, and re-elected Cauayan town Vice Mayor Jerry Tabujara-for “insufficiency of evidence.”

Then, last June, the DOJ filed murder charges before the Kabankalan RTC against the seven suspects in the murder of Arles. The three who surrendered have pending arrest warrants for murder, which was issued last June 4 by Kabankalan RTC Judge Fernando Elumba, who also denied them bail.

Aside from the three surrenderees, also charged were fellow RPA-ABB members Rustom Puro, Marvin Salve and Gerald Tabujara, and Ilog LGU employee Emmanuel Medes.

RPA-ABB leader Gilbert Arsenal, alias “Ka Kenneth,” said Thursday they were also negotiating for the surrender of their three other colleagues who in turn have indicated their willingness to surface, should they see justice, with the surrender of first three surrenderees.

The Arles family, led by lawyer Ma. Estelita, the judge's daughter, meanwhile filed before the DOJ a motion for partial reconsideration seeking for a reversal of ruling that exonerated the three Alvarezes from the crime. They argued that the set of evidences and witnesses presented against the seven suspects were the same as those against the Alvarezes.

Lawyer Frank Britanico, brother-in-law of the slain judge, yesterday said the “surrender” of the three RPA-ABB suspects was “probably a trick; might be a preparation for a major deception, like the coming out of a fall guy. We have the name of the possible fall guy. He is now an inmate at the national penitentiary. We also received a handwritten letter from him, naming one of the masterminds,” he said in a text message to The Freeman.

“It might also be a prelude to the liquidation of the complainants, the witnesses, and the NBI agents who investigated the case. Since the suspects are in police custody, they could not be blamed for it,” Britanico said.   (FREEMAN)