CJ Corona, Gov. Marañon order arrest of judge's killers

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona and Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. have ordered authorities to arrest the two men who gunned down Judge Henry Arles of the Kabankalan Regional Trial Court Branch 61 Tuesday night in Ilog town, Negros Occidental.

Corona, in a statement, said he condemned the killing of Arles and urged the police to hunt down the two suspects. He also instructed Court Administrator and SC spokesperson Jose Midas Marquez “to extend all the assistance the Court can give to the family of the late judge.”

Marañon, for his part, said he strongly condemned the killing of Arles, and ordered Senior Supt. Allan Guisihan, Negros Occidental Police Office director, to solve the crime immediately.

Guisihan said he created Task Group Arles for the arrest of the assailants. It is headed by Supt. Leo Irwin Agpangan, deputy director for administration of the NOPPO, and composed of the Ilog and Kabankalan City police stations, the Investigation Operations and Intelligence Branches of NOPPO, the PNP Crime Laboratory, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the PNP Legal Service and the PNP Public Safety Company.

Guisihan said they already have a lead on the identities of the two attackers, but Sr. Insp. Joshua Villasis, Ilog Police chief, said the motive of the killing has yet to be determined, while information gathered so far are now being processed. 

The police will determine the last cases Arles handled as it might give a clue to the motive of his killing as well as the identity of the suspects, Guisihan said.

Court records show that Arles meted 80 years imprisonment to a former American serviceman for two counts of rape in 2006, and had convicted countless suspects in murder and drug-related cases.

Police investigators consider the ambush of Arles as work-related, although Task Group spokesperson Chief Insp. Rico Santotome said it was also an isolated case and it was the first murder incident involving a member of the judiciary in Negros Occidental.

Arles, 62, succumbed to three gunshot wounds and was declared dead on arrival at the Southern Negros Doctors’ Hospital in Kabankalan City.

The judge, who received various awards for his speedy disposition of cases, was on his way home to Brgy. Dancalan in Ilog, when a tricycle drove alongside his car, and the gunman fired at him three times.

Police records show three empty shells and a slug of a .45 caliber pistol were recovered at the crime scene by Ilog policemen, while a .40 caliber pistol owned by Arles was recovered at the back seat of his Nissan Sentra vehicle.

Superintendent Calixto Mabugat, Kabankalan City Police chief, said he believed the gunman must be a professional shooter, citing the grouping of bullets that hit the window at the driver’s seat side, where Arles was sitting.

Villasis and Mabugat said they were not aware of any death threat against Arles, and neither did they received reports and complaints from the judge.

Marañon further ordered Guisihan to hold dialogs with judges in Negros Occidental over security concerns. “I advised the judges to be extra careful on their movements, especially on their daily routines. They should never stick to the same route and time when coming in and going out of their respective salas,” said the governor. - THE FREEMAN