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Bacolod City, Philippines Saturday, August 25, 2012
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But NBI has witnesses
to prove case: Lavin

BY CARLA GOMEZ

Bacolod chief Ferdinand Lavin of the National Bureau of Investigation yesterday said that even if the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade members accused of murdering Judge Henry Arles deny their participation, the NBI has witnesses to place them at the three crimes scenes.

Lavin was reacting to the statements of Marvin Salve and Gerard Tabujara that they could not possibly have been at the scene of the crime when Arles was killed in Ilog town on April 24.

On July 27, the NBI filed a complaint against Salve, Tabujara, the vice governor’s son, Ilog Mayor John Paul Alvarez, his aide Emmanuel Medez, and RPA-ABB members Jessie Daguia, Alejandro Capunong and Eddie Fortunado – who are under NBI custody in Manila – for the murder of Arles.

“We stand by the results of our investigation. We have witnesses who placed them at three crime scenes – the kill point, the sala of the judge where they conducted their surveillance, and the tertiary crime scene at a pizza house in Kabankalan where they converged after the killing,” Lavin said.

Lavin also said it was not the NBI that took the affidavit of Honeybee, the witness presented by the Arles family, so he could not comment on her having implicated Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr. and Cauayan Vice Mayor Jerry Tabujara in the murder of Arles.

He said that perhaps, they directly submitted the affidavit to the DOJ that is tasked with conducting a preliminary investigation of the case.

NO ASSET

Lavin denied that Honeybee is an asset of the NBI.

Honeybee, who said she collected the remaining payoff for the assassination of Arles from Mayor Alvarez, could be an accessory to the crime after the fact, Lavin said. However, if she qualifies under the witness protection program, she could turn state witness, he added.

He stressed that there was no politics involved in their investigation of the Arles case as alleged.

The NBI Bacolod submitted the documents and testimonies it gathered to the NBI head office for review and evaluation, he said.

The decision to file the case was a collegial decision made by NBI officials in Manila, and not his own. In fact, it was NBI DirectorNonnatus Rojas, who signed the referral letter of the case to the DOJ, Lavin said.

Only people who are hurt and hit hard by the charges would want to go after him, Lavin said.

As to the call of the RPA-ABB for the NBI head office to take over the handling of the case from the NBI Bacolod, Lavin said that is okay with him.

In fact, it is the NBI head office that is already handling the case, and the DOJ, he said.

NOT THE FORUM

Lawyer Frank Britanico, brother-in-law of Arles, said the Commission on Human Rights was not the proper forum for Salve and Gerald Tabujara to declare their innocence, but the DOJ when they are subpoenaed to file their answers to the charges against them.

“Their going to the CHR to declare their innocence is a publicity gimmick to muddle the issue, and make the perpetrators look like the victims,” he said.

It is probably also a scheme to protect their principals from accusations hurled against them, Britanico added.

Two weeks ago, Tabujara had sent feelers that he wanted to surrender and even sought the help of two priests, but later changed his mind, Britanico said.*CPG

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