Alvarez denies link in Judge Arles slay: Victim's family slams mayor, vice governor

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Mayor John Paul Alvarez of Ilog town in Negros Occidental, who was tagged mastermind in the murder of Kabankalan Judge Henry Arles, has denied participation to the crime.

Mayor Alvarez, son of Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr., said in media interviews Sunday that he is innocent of the murder charges filed against him, and he was surprised that the NBI dragged him to the case without even getting his side. “Your conscience will bother you for dragging my name in the case. You know that I am innocent,” Alvarez told the NBI officers.

The mayor said he has not received any copy of the case filed by the NBI against him, while the vice governor said the charges against his son are politically motivated because the judge’s son, Philip Arles, lost to his daughter Mercedes Alvarez in the 6th district congressional race in the 2010 elections.

This statement prompted lawyer Frank Britanico, spokesperson of the Arles family, to react by lambasting both the mayor and the vice governor for issuing malicious statements in defense of the mayor, who was tagged as the mastermind behind the crime.

“Their statements are very unfair, grossly shameful, and malicious,” Britanico told The Freeman Monday. “Are they implying that the children of Judge Arles, two of whom are lawyers, are so petty that they would accuse Mayor Alvarez in the murder of their father just to get back at them for losing in politics? They lost a father,” said the lawyer who is also the brother-in-law of the slain judge.

Last Friday, the NBI filed murder charges against Mayor Alvarez before the DOJ in Manila. Also charged were 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

Daguia, Fortunado, and Capunong, all members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB), are in custody of the NBI central office in Manila, said NBI-Bacolod head Ferdinand Lavin.

Medez, who was reportedly an aide of Mayor Alvarez, and RPA-ABB members Salve and Tabujara are at-large, he said, adding that the murder complaint was filed before DOJ Prosecutor General Claro Arellano by Arles’ sons Albert, a lawyer, and Philip.

In the complaint, Albert said: “The killing of my father was well planned and was performed by hired killers.” He alleged that his father was killed because Mayor Alvarez suspected that he and his father were responsible for helping the late Ilog councilor Antonio Gequillana in following up the case against the mayor before the Office of the Ombudsman, “which resulted in the dismissal from office of his co-respondents for (violation of the) Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices before the Sandiganbayan.”

Britanico said the cases against Alvarez before the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan were both filed by Gequillana, 40, who was gunned down in front of a hotel in Bacolod in July 2011. The Arles family alleged in their complaint that it was Mayor Alvarez who also ordered Gequillana’s killing.

The mayor said he has not gone into hiding, as he still regularly reports to the municipal hall and continues to perform his duties and functions as mayor of Ilog. He said the haste with which the case was pursued may have something to do with the P1.2-million cash reward for the arrest of the suspects.

Britanico said the right (of the accused) to be informed only starts at the time of arrest, during which you can invoke your right to be silent, and demand the assistance of a legal counsel. The NBI had observed due process “by not arresting Mayor Alvarez” and instead filed the case before the DOJ, which shall determine probable cause and file the case in court, he added. - THE FREEMAN