P.1-M reward offered in RTC judge’s killing

DAVAO CITY — Several groups in Southern Mindanao have put up a P100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers of Compostela Valley Regional Trial Court Judge Eugenio Valles.

Valles, 62, was gunned down by three men while jogging outside his home in Barangay Sta. Maria, Nabunturan town the other day.

The slain judge figured prominently in the ongoing mining row at the Mt. Diwalwal gold-rush site in Monkayo town. Last February, he rejected a petition by small-scale miners for a temporary restraining order against a directive of Monkayo Mayor Joel Brilliantes stopping their mining activities.

Chief Superintendent Eduardo Matillano, Region 11 police director, said they are about to release the cartographic sketches of Valles’ killers who are believed to be guns-for-hire.

Although probers are looking into several angles in the killing, Matillano said it is strongly possible that it has something to do with the mining dispute at Mt. Diwalwal.

Brilliantes himself hinted this, citing recent pronouncements by leaders of the small-scale miners that there could be bloodshed should the mining conflict prevail.

"What else would you think...?" he said, adding that he himself is being extra cautious because he is on top of the hit list of "interest groups" at Mt. Diwalwal.

But Diwalwal barangay captain Franco Tito denied the insinuations, saying they would not gain anything from killing Valles and that the slaying would not even resolve the conflict.