Police probers are pursuing leads on the of possible suspect or suspects in the ambush-assassination of Kabankalan Regional Trial Court Judge Henry Arles Tuesday night in Ilog, Negros Occidental.

Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. who expressed his condemnation of the incident, yesterday ordered Senior Supt. Allan Guisihan, provincial police director, to investigate thoroughly the killing of Arles.

Marañon, however, said he was informed by Guisihan that they already have some leads in their investigations.

Arles, 62,succumbed to three gunshot wounds when he was shot by a gunman riding in a tricycle at the national highway of Brgy. Manalad, Ilog. He was declared dead on arrival at the Southern Negros Doctors' Hospital in Kabankalan City.

Three empty shells and a slug of a .45 caliber pistol were recovered at the crime scene by Ilog policemen, while a .40 caliber pistol owned by Arles was recovered at the back seat of his Nissan Sentra vehicle, police records show.

Police probers consider the shooting of Arles as work-related and an isolated case. Chief Inspector Rico Santotome, spokesman of the newly-formed Task Force Arles, said it is the first murder incident involving a member of the judiciary in Negros Occidental.

Arles was on his way to home to Brgy. Dancalan, Ilog, when  a tricycle drove alongside his car, and the gunman fired at him three times.

After shooting the judge, the two suspects made a U-turn on their vehicle and fled towards Kabankalan City or Ilog.

Senior Inspector Joshua Villasis, Ilog police chief, said they are still facing a blank wall as to the motive of the killing, although they are now in the process of elimination of information they have gathered from the personnel and staff of the Kabankalan RTC.

The Ilog and Kabankalan City Police Stations form part of the TF Arles, with other members are the PNP Legal Service, PNP Public Safety Company, Investigation Operations and Intelligence Branches of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, PNP Crime Laboratory and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, with Supt. Leo Irwin Agpangan as the task force head.

Supt. Calixto Mabugat, Kabankalan police chief, said he believes the gunman must be a professional “shooter”, citing the grouping of bullets that hit the window at the driver's seat side, where Arles was sitting.

Mabugat said he also noted that the gunman and the victim were moving, when the shooting took place.

Asked if Arles had received threats, Mabugat and Villasis said they are not aware of, or have received reports and complaints from the judge.

Mabugat, however, said Arles usually asked for an augmentation from the lone policeman detailed at the Kabankalan RTC, if he was hearing sensitive cases.

Police investigations also showed that the suspects have been tailing Arles from Kabankalan City, and overtook the vehicle of the judge, before shooting him.

Court records show that Arles meted 80 years imprisonment to  former American serviceman Victor Pearson for two counts of rape in 2006, and had convicted countless suspects in murder and drug-related cases.

Marañon ordered Guisihan to hold dialogs with judges in Negros Occidental, in connection with their security concerns.

He urged Negros Occidental judges to be vigilant always, and to patterns in their movements. * GPB

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