Probers eye 3 suspects in Negros judge's slay

BACOLOD CITY – Police have three suspects in the ambush-slay of Kabankalan Judge Henry Arles in Ilog town, Negros Occidental on April 24.

Senior Superintendent Allan Guisihan, Negros Occidental police director, said witnesses saw three persons aboard a tricycle, including the driver, tailing the Nissan Sentra driven by Arles and making a U-turn toward the north after the shooting.

Guisihan said investigators believe that the three include the triggerman and a man and a woman who reportedly conducted surveillance on Arles at the Kabankalan Regional Trial Court (RTC) building from 3 p.m. to the time the judge left the building on April 24.

Police suspect that when Arles left the building, the two lookouts then boarded the tricycle that was already waiting nearby, Guisihan said.

Arles, 62, succumbed to three gunshot wounds from a .45-caliber pistol.

Guisihan said the police have circulated the artist’s sketches of the two lookouts in barangays of southern Negros Occidental.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the Philippine Judges Foundation (PJF) is offering a P100,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of Arles’ killers or the mastermind.

Marquez said the PJF, led by retired Chief Justice Andres Narvasa and retired Court of Appeals Justice Mariano Umali, would also award another P100,000 to the witness or tipster upon conviction of the accused. The same offer has been given in past killings of judges. – with Edu Punay