Vice governor's son faces murder charge

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — A town mayor, who is the son of the vice governor of Negros Occidental, is facing murder charges for being the alleged mastermind in the killing of Kabankalan Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Branch 61 Henry Arles last April. The NBI filed murder charges against Ilog town Mayor John Paul Alvarez, son of Negros Occidental Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr., and nine other suspects before the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila Friday around 4:30 p.m., lawyer Frank Britanico told The Freeman Friday night.

Britanico, brother-in-law of the judge and spokesperson of the Arles family, said the mayor was tagged by the suspects as the mastermind behind the murder.

Besides the mayor, others who were charged with murder are Jessie Daguia, Alejandro Capunong, Eddie Fortunado, Marvin Salve, Gerald Tabujara, Emmanuel Medez, a Jane Doe, a John Doe, and another suspect still to be identified in the course of the investigation, Britanico said.

Salve and Tabujara were members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB), said Britanico.

NBI-Bacolod head Ferdinand Lavin said the murder complaint was filed before DOJ Prosecutor General Claro Arellano by the judge’s sons, lawyer Albert Arles and Philip Arles.

Daguia, Fortunado, and Capunong, also members of the RPA-ABB, are now in custody of the NBI Manila, said Lavin, adding that the three sought protective custody as they feared for their lives. They were arrested last June 23 and 27 in Bacolod for illegal possession of firearms but were being investigated in the murder of Arles, he said.

Vice Governor Alvarez, in media reports yesterday, said he was not aware that a case was filed against Paul, while insisting that his son is innocent. He said they will consult with a lawyer and face the matter in court. Mayor Alvarez is the brother of Neg. Occ. 6th district Rep. Mercedes Alvarez.

“The killing of my father was well planned and was performed by hired-killers,” said Albert in the complaint. He said the motive behind his father’s killing was the suspicion (of Alvarez) that “Judge Arles together with me were allegedly responsible for helping the late Ilog Councilor Antonio ‘Karem’ Gequillana in following up the Ombudsman case against Mayor Alvarez, which resulted in the dismissal from office of his-correspondents for (violation of the) Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices before the Sandiganbayan.”

Britanico said the cases against Mayor Alvarez before the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan were both filed by Gequillana, 40, who was later shot to death in front of a hotel in Bacolod in July 2011. The complaint of the Arles family alleged it was also the mayor who ordered Gequillana’s murder.

Judge Arles succumbed to three gunshot wounds when he was shot with a .45 caliber pistol by the gunmen who fled using a tricycle, in Ilog town on April 24 this year.

In the earlier stages of the investigation of the Arles murder, Lavin said they were looking into the possible involvement of an influential family in southern Negros Occidental where the town of Ilog is located.

The family of Alvarez was implicated in the reports but the vice governor denied the allegations, saying his family has no case before Arles’ sala, and they had no reason to have him killed. He said maybe this was what he got after rumors spread that he is running for governor in 2013. (FREEMAN)