Corona to police: Arrest Negros judge’s killers
-A A +AWednesday, April 25, 2012
MANILA (3rd Update, 5:50 p.m.) -- Chief Justice Renato Corona called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to go after the killers of Judge Henry Arles, who was murdered on Tuesday night by a gunman riding a motorcycle.
“Corona is urging the law enforcement operatives to immediately go after the assassins and bring them to the bar of justice,” Supreme Court spokesperson Midas Marquez said in a text message.
Marquez was also ordered by Corona to extend the necessary assistance to the family of the late Judge Arles, who died upon arrival at the Southern Negros Doctors Hospital where he was rushed by bystanders, said provincial police spokesman Chief Inspector Rico Santotome.
Santotome said Arles, judge of Kabankalan City Regional Trial Court branch 61, was aboard his Nissan Sentra car and on his way home when he was attacked by the two suspects along a highway in Manalad village, Ilog town around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Responding policemen recovered at the scene three spent shells for caliber 45 pistol believed from the suspects. The judge's caliber 40 pistol was found by the policemen in his car.
Santotome said police investigators consider the shooting of the judge as work-related and an isolated case.
Task Group Arles, headed by provincial deputy chief for administration Superintendent Leo Erwin Agpangan, was already formed to conduct a deeper probe on the incident.
Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, meanwhile, said the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), together with the judiciary, must exhaust all efforts to put a stop to these "horrendous acts."
"We must speed up the conviction rates in our court system. The average case life of six years emboldens those with criminal intent to pursue their nefarious aims. Only swift punishment of the guilty will ensure the impunity is defeated," he said.
A judge since 1999, Judge Arles was a recipient of the Chief Justice Ramon Avanceña Award for Judicial Excellence in 2008.
He has no pending administrative case, records from the Supreme Court show. (Virgil Lopez/VR/Sunnex)
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