ILOILO CITY—The widow of slain Aklan broadcaster Heherson “Boy” Hinolan has decried the alleged special treatment of a former Aklan town mayor detained in Cebu for the broadcaster’s murder.
Aphrodite Hinolan said a thorough investigation should be conducted on the alleged privileges that Alfredo Arcenio, the former mayor of Lezo, Aklan, is receiving in jail.
Arcenio is detained while on trial for the murder of Heherson.
“I hope that the court will look into this because we had the case transferred from Aklan to Cebu so he could not exert his power and influence on the case,” Aphrodite told Inquirer in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
Arcenio, who was tagged as the lone gunman in the November 2004 killing of Heherson, was seen on video last week allegedly holding a birthday party inside the office of the warden of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center.
Last month, he was also caught on video having lunch along with his jail guards and lawyer in a restaurant near the provincial capitol after attending a court hearing.
Aphrodite said she would consult state prosecutors handling the case on what action to take.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has directed lawyers of the province to ask the Regional Trial Court to transfer Arcenio’s place of detention.
Rory Jon Sepulveda, the governor’s spokesperson, said the transfer would “erase any doubt or suspicion that we are giving him (Arcenio) special treatment.”
Garcia had ordered the relief of Algier Comendador and Reynaldo Pepito Jr., the former jail warden and assistant warden, after Arcenio was allowed to have lunch outside jail.
The governor has also ordered the jail party investigated.
Sepulveda confirmed that Napoleon Miranda, the acting provincial jail warden, had allowed relatives of Arcenio to meet the former mayor and have meals with him at the warden’s office.
“They partook of the food but it was not a party,” Sepulveda said.
He said visitation rights for all the provincial jail’s 1,600 inmates have been suspended until the investigation is completed and those found liable punished.