Negros Occidental Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr. yesterday said the murder charges filed against his son, Ilog Mayor John Paul Alvarez, for the death of Kabankalan Regional Trial Court Judge Henry Arles will not scare him and other members of his family into withdrawing their bids for public office in 2013.

“We are good people, but we cannot be stopped by threats,” he said at a press conference with his daughter, Rep. Mercedes Alvarez (Neg. Occ., 6th District) at the Vice Governor's Office at the Capitol in Bacolod City

The vice governor said Mayor Alvarez was not present because he is media shy, if he saw all the journalists present yesterday he might just faint.

“The only thing that can stop us from being in politics is if the people will no longer vote for us. If the people do not vote for us and we all lose, well and good, no problem, we will all rest. If we win, it will show that the people still like us,” the vice governor said.

Alvarez said his daughter will seek reelection as congresswoman, but he refused to say what post he will run for in 2013 when asked if he will bid for the governorship.

“I know what I will run for, but I will not say what it is for now,” he said, pointing out that there are two months more to go before the filing of certificates of candidacy.

“Definitely, I will be running,” he said, admitting that it could be for a post different from what he is holding now.

Asked if a bid by him to run for governor is backed by Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco as rumored, he said, “Let us not drag his name into the conversation as this is a local discussion.”

Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., with whom Alvarez ran in 2010, had earlier announced his intention to seek reelection in 2013.

Marañon is the chairman of the United Negros Alliance, an umbrella party of Negros politicians of which Cojuangco is the founder.

Alvarez denied he has been made UNA chair in place of Marañon.

Frank Britanico, brother-in-law of Arles, at a separate press conference yesterday said that, while Alvarez is tightlipped on whether he is running for governor, it is obvious that he wants to gain control over the whole province.

Everyday, he is campaigning among barangay officials, which indicates he wants to be governor, Britanico claimed.

“We believe diversionary tactics are being adopted to keep attention away from the murder case, so they will not lose their supporters and their patron's backing,” he added.

ATTACK ON FAMILY

“The attack on Mayor Paul is an attack on our whole family,” the vice governor said.

Both the vice governor and the congresswoman said the mayor is innocent of the charges filed against him. The National Bureau of Investigation did not even hear his side before filing charges against him before the Department of Justice on July 27, they said.

“When you investigate, you have to get the side of both parties, it cannot be one-sided,” the congresswoman, who is also a lawyer, said.

“We have not received any legal notice from the NBI or DOJ…for now we cannot do anything, it seems my family is being subjected to a trial by publicity,” she added.

“We are just playing the waiting game now,” she added.

Britanico said the media battle is the choice of the Alvarez family. “In our case, it will not be in the media but in the courts,” he said.

CHARGES

The NBI filed murder charges against Mayor Alvarez, Emmanuel “Eman” Medez – an administrative aide 1 of the Ilog government, and RPA-ABB members Marvin Salve and Gerald Gallano Tabujara, who are at-large, and Jessie Gedacan Daguia, Alejandro Castillo Capunong and Eddie Magno Fortunado, who are now under NBI custody in Manila.

The judge was shot dead in Barangay Manalad, Ilog, at about 6:30 p.m. on April 24 while he was driving home.

The vice governor said he heard that the three RPA-ABB men under the NBI custody have retracted their statements that they had a part in the murder on the judge, and, based on media reports, they did not point to his son as having ordered them to liquidate Arles.

“Whether this is politically motivated on the local, provincial level or for whatever reason, we are not afraid. It is only the people who can remove us from office,” the vice governor said.

POLITICAL MOTIVATION

But Alvarez, at the same time, said he apologizes for his son's having said the case filed against him was politically-motivated as that could have hurt the Arles family.

On Sunday, the vice governor said his son suspected that the charges were politically motivated because the judge's son, Philip Arles, lost to his daughter Mercedes Alvarez in the congressional race in the sixth district in 2010, and Lawrence Britanico lost his bid for councilor in Ilog town.

The judge's late wife, Susan, was a Britanico.

Ria and Philip Arles, children of the judge, said they would not pursue a case on the death of their father for political reasons.

They said they lost a father and want justice to be served with the real culprits brought to justice.

The charge of political motivation is irresponsible and malicious, Philip said, while Ria said it is very insulting.

“How can you relate the death of a person to politics when my father was non-partisan and we don't have any political plans?” Philip said.

“I ran (in 2010) to give the people a choice, unlike them who make politics a livelihood, and just exchange posts to stay in power,” he said.

The vice governor, on the other hand, said he had a good life from childhood, he is the grandson of Don Gil Montilla and had an airplane of his own to fly his children to Bacolod, it was when he joined politics that he got poor, so how could that be called a livelihood.

VERY HURTFUL

“It seems the name of our family is being destroyed…It has been very hurtful, I am very close to my brothers, especially Mayor Paul,” Rep. Alvarez said.

She also said “It is hard on the part of a family to lose a relative, especially a father. I still continue to pray for Judge Arles because he was a highly respected man in the sixth district,” she said.

She denied that the RPA-ABB and the families of the accused had approached them to consolidate their defense for the case. “If they do, we will have to consult our lawyer,” she said.

The vice governor said he is appealing to the media and the public to keep an open mind and be fair to his son.

The mayor had undergone a kidney transplant 12 years ago.

If this turns out to be a fabricated case against his son, the vice governor said they will file charges against whoever is responsible for it.*CPG

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