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Bacolod City, Philippines Monday, July 30, 2012
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Kin of two cry torture;
It’s diversionary tactic

NBI OFFICIAL, ARLES FAMILY COUNTER
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The National Bureau of Investigation and the family of Kabankalan Regional Trial Court Judge Henry Arles yesterday denied allegations that the three Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade members now in the custody of the NBI were tortured into admitting that they had a role in the assassination of the judge.

Two relatives of the three RPA-ABB men yesterday claimed that they were tortured into admitting a crime they did not commit.

“It’s a diversionary tactic, they are trying to make the culprits the victims,” Ted Britanico, brother-in-law of Arles, said.

NBI Bacolod Chief Ferdinand Lavin also denied that the three were tortured.

“I expected this development. If the other side would get to their relatives, then there was always the possibility of recantation of their statements and cooperation,” Lavin said.

“These people were paid to do a job, if they get paid again, or are promised something to withdraw their statement, that is always a possibility,” he said.

However, they voluntarily provided detailed information on the murder of the judge earlier, and we can substantiate this with evidence, Lavin said.

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

On Friday the NBI filed a complaint before the Department of Justice for the murder of the judge against Ilog Mayor John Paul Alvarez, Emmanuel “Eman” Medez – an alleged aide of the mayor, and RPA-ABB members Marvin Salve and Gerald Gallano Tabujara who are at-large, and Jessie Gedacan Daguia, Alejandro Castillo Capunong and Eddie Magno Fotunado who are now under NBI custody in Manila.

TORTURED?

Elizabeth Fortunado, who said she is the sister of Eddie, and Maribel Daguia Anlap Bongalbal, niece of Jessie, yesterday told the DAILY STAR their relatives denied having a part in the assassination of the judge and claimed they were tortured into making admissions.

The two women were referred to the DAILY STAR by RPA-ABB spokesman Victorino Sumulong who said that while their group will not condone the killing of the judge, their members who were arrested should be given due process and allowed to air their sides.

Bongalbal said she visited her uncle at the NBI jail on July 26 and 28 with Commission on Human Rights representative Antonio Abbago.

Her uncle, Jessie Daguia, told her that he was forced to sign an affidavit admitting to having a part in the killing of the judge at the NBI office in Bacolod in the presence of a lawyer provided for him by the Arles family, she said.

In a letter given to her uncle, she said he was electrocuted and beaten to admit the crime. She will turn over the letter to the Commission on Human Rights and the media, Bongalbal added.

Her uncle was arrested on June 23 and they only learned of it on July 22 , she said.

DUE PROCESS

Bongalbal said she was making the plea of her uncle public, in fear for his life, and so that he may be accorded due process.

Elizabeth Fortunado, who lives in Manila, said she visited her brother at the NBI in Manila on Saturday.

Eddie told her that when he was suddenly arrested by the NBI he did not have a gun on him, and that he was electrocuted and beaten into admitting a part in the murder of the judge in the presence of the Arles family, she said.

Eddie maintained that he was innocent, she said.

Ted Britanco said the claims that the RPA-ABB men were tortured into admitting crimes they did not commit is totally ironic and disturbing.

“There was no such torture, I was there when they were brought in, that is impossible, we have supporting evidence to prove that it is not true,” he added.

MADE UP

Philip Arles, son of the judge, said the allegations of torture were all made up.

“If it is easy to kill an innocent person for a reward, how much easier would it be for the murderer to invent a statement that he was forced into admitting the crime for another monetary reward?” lawyer Frank Britanico, a brother-in-law of Arles, asked.

“My theory is this was instigated either by the camp of the mastermind, or by the camp of the actual perpetrators, or in cooperation with each other, to mislead,” he said.

The actual perpetrators have acknowledged membership with the RPA-ABB, would it be easy for their group to admit the crime committed by their members that could threaten the conclusion of the peace process between them and the government? he also asked.

“My belief is it would not be easy for them to admit this crime because it would threaten a lifetime pension or dole-outs that they are expecting from the conclusion of the peace process,” he said.

“I believe they would do everything in their power to deceive everyone in order to pursue what, to them, would be a secure and comfortable future,” Britanico said.

“On the part of the family of the mastermind would it be easy for them to face the prospect of not gaining control over the whole province as a result of this murder that was committed by a member of their family?”he also asked.

DECEPTIVE TACTICS

They have always been employing deceptive tactics in the media from the time that they learned that their family was being seriously investigated by the NBI in relation to the Arles case, Frank Britanico said.

Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez, has repeatedly denied that his son or family had anything to do with the Arles killing, saying they had not motive to do so.

Frank Arles also said when Daguia and Capubong were arrested at a bus terminal in Bacolod by the NBI agent, they were on the way to another hit in Silay City.

They were allegedly paid P15,000 to liquidate a hospital cashier, he said.

He said the people behind the three who want to divert the issue away from the killing of the judge, are masters of deception *CPG

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