Ilog

Three men facing charges for murder, attempted murder and frustrated homicide were apprehended in Negros Occidental by police authorities, Tuesday through its intensified campaign against persons with warrants of arrest.

Over in Isabela town, PSInsp. Ramil Sarona with his men collared Gerardo Canselo alias Moroy, 51, of Sitio Alibangbang, Brgy. San Agustin through a warrant with criminal case number 3753 for the crime of murder issued by Judge Jorge Patriarca with no bail recommended for his temporary release. He is detained at Isabela Police Station prior to commitment to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facility.

Meanwhile, Jo-an Bercolano, 29, of Brgy. 6 in Victorias City was nabbed by the authorities for the crime of multiple attempted murder with criminal case numbers 8922-69 and 2013-48 with bail bond fixed at P120,000.

The arrest of Bercolano was effected at Rizal St., Silay City about 3:25PM, Tuesday.

Eight members of the Philippine Army and a civilian were injured in a road accident after their canter truck fell about 11AM, Friday along the national road at Sitio Moog, Brgy. Vista Alegre, Ilog town.

Traffic report said the green-colored canter truck 47th Infantry Battalion of Philippine Army based in Brgy. Tiling, Cauayan with plate number SHL 769 driven by Private Gerald Pulviras, 24, was moving towards Kabankalan City when it swerved and accidentally fell on the right side of the road. Pulviras with Capt. Glenford Libre; PFC’s Lawrence Parreño, Julius Araneta, Joemar Andal and Dario Tolentino; Corporals Jerome Punsalan and Hane Charl Tureta and Sgt. Ronilo Aguacito with civilian Ma. Fe Gallardo.

The victims were rushed to Don Lorenzo Memorial District Hospital in Kabankalan City for medical treatment while follow-up investigation of the incident was referred to SPO2 Rygie Pigar.

Supreme Court administrator Jose Midas Marquez lamented the slow pace of justice for Kabankalan regional trial court Judge Henry Arles who was murdered in Ilog town, Negros Occidental in April last year.

Marquez, in an interview yesterday, said "[i]t is distressing to know that after over a year of legal proceedings, the masterminds have not been brought to justice and remain scot-free."

"If a highly reputed and distinguished judge cannot get justice from our system, then who can? I am hoping that this remains an isolated case, and will not happen to any of us, not to any judge, not to any prosecutor," Marquez added.

Activities emphasizing the necessity for the giving of justice for the late magistrate, RTC Judge Henry Arles, through holy mass and unveiling of a billboard memorial was undertaken yesterday, in the Kabankalan City Cathedral and on the exact site in Manalad Village, where Arles was overtaken by a group of gunmen on board a tricycle and shot dead on the spot. The suspects were alleged members of the rogue rebel group, RPA-ABB with some government officials as alleged masterminds.

A tarpaulin bearing the photo of slain Judge Henry Arles was installed yesterday at the site where he was killed by men riding in tandem at Brgy. Manalad, Ilog.* (Owen S. Bayog/NDB photo)

The mass was sponsored by the Justice for Arles, Justice for All (JAJA) movement who distributed less-than-a-palm-in-size, silkscreened cloth with pins to be worn on one’s breast. The cloth printed the likeness of the late judge as a symbol for friends and sympathizers on his commitment to justice which ironically felled him in a monumental dastardly act by gunmen of the RPA-ABB who later recanted their testimonies, but which jurisprudence provides will still stick.