NBI agents, witness, slain judge's kin get threats

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation here and family members of slain Kabankalan Regional Trial Court Judge Henry Arles have been receiving threats, NBI-Bacolod head Ferdinand Lavin said yesterday.

 “I did not receive it personally. Some persons close to me conveyed it to me. I heard I will be replaced (from my position), I will be harmed, I might be ambushed, something like that,” Lavin told reporters Thursday.

Lavin said he and his agents also received threats that their office will be bombed or torched.

Lawyer Frank Britanico, brother-in-law of the slain judge and spokesman for the Arles family, told The STAR yesterday that “Honeybee,” one of their witnesses, received death threats though her phone almost every day. 

He added that “assets and organic elements” of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army – Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) went to the homes of their relatives last week and looked for him and Philip Arles, the son of the slain judge.

“Our relatives have taken their photos using cellphone cameras and showed them to the NBI,” he said. 

Britanico said they have transferred their witnesses to safe houses. 

In a related development, Britanico said they have received subpoenas from the Department of Justice (DOJ) last Thursday. 

The subpoenas were addressed to Arles’ sons, Albert and Philip, who filed the case with the NBI before the DOJ in Manila last July 27. 

The Arles family has filed charges against Ilog Mayor John Paul Alvarez, whom they tagged as the mastermind and six others in the murder of Arles. Also charged were the alleged triggerman Jessie Daguia, Alejandro Capunong, Gerald Tabujara and Eddie Fortunado, who are members of the RPA-ABB; Marvin Salve, vice commander of the RPA-ABB in the sixth district; and Emmanuel Medez, an administrative aide at the Ilog municipal government.