RPA plotting slay of Negros congressional bet, NBI agents, claims lawyer

From InterAksyon (Jan 16): RPA plotting slay of Negros congressional bet, NBI agents, claims lawyer



File photo shows commanders of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army attending a dialogue at Negros Occidental police headquarters (Julius Mariveles, InterAksyon.com)

A lawyer claimed here that a congressional candidate in Negros Occidental and at least three agents of the National Bureau of Investigation are targets for assassination by the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, which recently signed a peace pact with the government. Lawyer Frank Britanico, spokesman of the family of murdered judge Henry Arles, made the disclosure after RPA member Eddie Fortunado, a suspect in the crime, posted the P80,000 bail for his provisional liberty. The RPA broke away from the New People’s Army in the early 1990s.

It is described in the website of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process as “a former rebel group that signed a peace agreement with the government in 2000” and “is set to transform into an unarmed, socio-economic organization with the signing of a closure agreement.”

Britanico said the most “serious repercussion” of Fortunado and “his cohorts being on the loose again is that it emboldens the bandits to intensify their efforts to eliminate the persons whom they and their masterminds would like the public to believe have persecuted them.” In fact, there was a plan to ambush Arles’ son, Philip, in the villages of Tampalon and Tapi located between the town of Ilog, where the judge was killed, and the city of Kabankalan last January 10, and the deployment of teams to kill three agents of the NBI’s sub-regional office based here, Britanico claimed. The supposed ambush was aborted, however, because of the presence of Philip’s supporters and a military unit in the area, Britanico said.

Philip is running in the sixth congressional district against Representative Mercedes Alvarez, daughter of Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez, Jr. and sister of Ilog Mayor John Paul, both accused by the NBI as principal suspects in the judge’s murder.

Hit squads

Britanico also claimed that the suspects out on bail have become a part of two hit squads tasked to kill Arles and the NBI agents. The first team, assigned to the sixth district, is supposedly tasked to go after Philip and includes suspects Jessie Gedacan Daguia and Alejandro Castillo Capunong -- both also out on bail -- while the second team is based in Bacolod and will go after NBI agents Modesto Cajita, Cyrus Aluzan and Jose Henry Arellano.

‘For the money’

Philip Arles told InterAksyon he received a text message from a “reliable source” about the alleged January 10 attempt on him. The source, he said, tipped them off several times when he was in Tampalon, an area where Rustom Puro, RPA commander in southern Negros, is based. It was thwarted, however, because “our security was in place” and there was a military unit that was incidentally in the area.

The younger Arles said the attempt on his life could be motivated by revenge since “the accused and the masterminds want to get back at us” although, just like in the case of his father, the suspects are allegedly “still doing it for the money.” “Political gains are secondary, they really want to get back at us,” he said. Philip added that the January 10 incident was not the first time he had been subjected to threats and harassments since “it had already been happening since the charges were filed against those whom we believe are responsible for the death of our father.” “We think that they could not simply accept that someone dared to stand up against them despite the numerous abuses they have committed in the sixth district.”

Surveillance, harassment

Arellano, one of the agents reportedly targeted for assassination, told InterAksyon that the surveillance and harassment against him “is nothing new” and can only be considered as “part of my job.” The latest incident, he said, was on January 12, when four motorcycle-riding men went to his residence in a subdivision in Estefania village here and asked neighbors about him.
He said he and his family had already relocated since these incidents became more frequent starting last year, when the murder charges were filed by the NBI. Arellano is one of the witnesses presented by the NBI in the hearings of RTC Branch 42 Judge Fernando Elumba on the petition for the writ of amparo filed by the family of Fortunado.

‘Weaving fancy tales’

But RPA spokesman Victorino Sumulong denied the claims of Britanico and called them as “conjured stories” as he chided the lawyer for “continually coming up with fanciful tales.” Sumulong told InterAksyon that they want to stop commenting about the murder of Arles. “We want the judicial process to take its course and see if the accused are indeed guilty of the charges against them,” although he pointed out that the inclusion of their members is based on a “trumped up case in the first place.” RPA national commander Stephen Paduano, who uses the nom de guerre Carapali Luwalhati, declined to comment on the accusations of Britanico.

‘Servant to a wealthy master’

Britanico claimed Fortunado’s posting of bail has revealed a lot.  “That’s not surprising; not only that it is a matter of right, but a matter of means as well,” Britanico said in a text message to reporters after as he pointed out that Fortunado’s posting of bail showed he “has good funding … being a servant to a wealthy master is obvious in this case.” Britanico, who is the brother-in-law of Arles, said the bail is not a small amount for an ordinary person, especially for Fortunado who has been unemployed for the last six months.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/52798/rpa-plotting-slay-of-negros-congressional-bet-nbi-agents-claims-lawyer