NBI probes Bacolod clans in judge's slay

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is investigating the possible involvement of influential families in the sixth district of Negros Occidental in the murder of Kabankalan Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Henry Arles last April 24.

NBI Bacolod chief Ferdinand Lavin said yesterday that based on the cases that Arles handled, it is possible that the mastermind belongs to influential families in the district.

The sixth district is composed of the cities of Kabankalan and Sipalay and the towns of Ilog, Candoni, Cauayan, and Hinoba-an.

Lavin said a man and a woman seen in the Kabankalan RTC building on the day Arles was killed, and whose sketches were released to the media, were just “spotters or lookouts.”

He said another group of men tailed the judge’s car on his way home to Ilog town.

The 62-year-old Arles suffered three gunshot wounds. 

”We’re not closing our doors to (the possibility that there were) eight to 10 suspects,” Lavin said.

The Arles family is giving a P1-million reward to anyone who could give information leading to the arrest of the killers.

This is on top of the P200,000 that the Philippine Judges Foundation has offered for the arrest of the suspects, as announced by Supreme Court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez.