By CYRUS M. GARDE and EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — Murder suspect Noel Ayalin had been detained in the Silay City police station jail under maximum security.
Ayalin arrived in Negros Occidental via the Bacolod-Silay Airport at about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday from Iba, Zambales, where he was arrested on Thursday last week.
He was taken by his escorts — members of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office intelligence unit — directly to Silay City.
Ayalin, former barangay captain of Kapitan Ramon in Silay, was accused of staging a shooting spree that killed four barangay officials and wounded several others on March 6, 2011.
Looking exhausted, he refused to answer questions from the media.
Policemen, including Regional Public Safety Battalion personnel, secured the Silay police station even before his arrival — preventing a throng of villagers who wanted to charge at one of the most wanted persons in Western Visayas from getting close.
Supt. Jacob Crisostomo, Silay police chief, appealed to the residents to let the law take its course.
Armando Occeña, father of one of the fatalities in the shooting spree, Sangguniang Kabataan president Aimee Occeña, said he will let the authorities work on the case.
Armando was present when the police pounced on Ayalin in Zambales last week. He said he wanted to kill Ayalin upon seeing him, but he calmed down.
“Even if he (Ayalin) is jailed several times, he can never bring my daughter back,” said Armando. “I have to move on now that he is detained.”
Ayalin’s stay in the Silay City police station jail is temporary. Today, he will be taken to court for his turnover to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
The suspect is facing nine charges for murder and frustrated murder at the Regional Trial Court in Silay. No bail was recommended for his temporary liberty./PN
