Silay Massacre Suspect: PNP head: "Influential pals coddle fugitive"

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines  — Former brgy. captain Noel Ayalin, the suspect in the massacre of four barangay officials and wounding four others at Brgy. Kapitan Ramon in Silay City on March 6, has remained uncaught despite the massive manhunt by authorities and the P500,000 reward money for his arrest.

Senior Supt. Allan Guisihan, Negros Occidental Provincial Police director, said Ayalin is still in Negros Occidental but the police could not find him because he is being coddled by "influential friends."

"On his own, Ayalin could not survive," Guisihan said while urging the so-called "friends" of Ayalin to convince the latter to surrender.

Guisihan said this is the reason that it is difficult for them to arrest Ayalin, although there have been sightings of him in the neighboring areas in Barangay Kapitan Ramon.

Since the massacre, a manhunt for Ayalin was launched by the Negros Occidental Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Philippine Army.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, during his visit in Bacolod last week, ordered authorities to "use all government resources and manpower" to arrest Ayalin. "Get him at all costs," he told the police.

A nationwide manhunt is also on for Ayalin, said PNP Western Visayas Director Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol, adding that he has alerted police forces in other areas in the country.