Ambush try on son of slain judge foiled

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The alleged plan to kill the son of a slain Negros judge was intercepted by his family, their spokesperson said yesterday.

Lawyer Frank Britanico, spokesperson of the family of Kabankalan RTC judge Henry Arles, who was murdered in April 2012, said they have uncovered last January 10 a plot to ambush Philip Arles, who is running for congressman.

He said the plot was to be staged between Barangays Tampalon and Tapi, in Kabankalan, while Philip is campaigning, but the ambush failed to materialize because of the presence of his supporters and a military unit that happened to be in the area, Britanico said.

Philip is challenging the reelection bid of 6th District Rep. Mercedes Alvarez, sister of Ilog Mayor John Paul Alvarez, who has been tagged by the Arles family as the mastermind behind the crime.

Their father, Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr., who is running for governor in this year’s election, is also one of the 11 suspects in the crime, but he dismissed it as “political harassment.”

Arles was gunned down in Ilog town in April last year while on his way home.

Representative Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (3rd District), for his part, denied rumors that he is intervening in the complaint filed against the Alvarezes for the murder of Arles.

Benitez, who heads the Liberal Party-Negros Occidental and has declared his support for Alvarez’s gubernatorial bid, has been trying to stop the DOJ from filling the information in court after an assistant state prosecutor had allegedly found probable cause against the respondents in a resolution made in December.

“This is totally false,” Benitez denied Britanico’s allegations, furher saying: “Maybe they are paranoid, if there is no case, they start blaming other people.” (FREEMAN)