CEBU City Councilor Gerardo Carillo submitted to the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) several pieces of evidence and a list of names of possible suspects in the death threats he has been receiving.

Carillo said that this time, he hopes the police will solve the matter.

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He met with CCPO officials and gave them copies of five letters containing the death threats, which he said appear to be sent by the same person who sent him threats last year.

He also gave them the names of two suspects he has in mind.

“They investigated this last year but the case did not progress any further. I don’t want this guy to go unpunished. I already gave the names to the police, so I hope they’ll
make an investigation properly this time,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.

Carillo declined to describe the two people, and said that he would leave it to the police to name them when a case is ready to be filed.

For his part, Vice Mayor Michael Rama said he will ask Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador to provide a police escort to Carillo, but it is up to him to assess whether or not it is necessary.

The CCPO is studying the matter. Comendador confirmed that he and Carillo had a meeting last Wednesday night to discuss the situation.

Comendador said the team of investigators he assigned to the case has already identified a “probable suspect” and the city councilor had been informed about it.

The suspect, according to Comendador, was the same person who sent the threat to Carillo in November last year and last Wednesday.

Carillo earlier lamented the inaction of the police, since there were no concrete findings in the investigation last year.

Comendador, however, said “identifying is one thing. Proving is another.”

He said the CCPO is exhausting all efforts to gather evidence to pin down the suspect.

No ordinary matter

Comendador said he understands Carillo’s sentiment, adding that “being threatened is not an ordinary matter.”

Comendador said the threat received by Carillo is not related to his being a councilor of Cebu City.

He said it is related to his job as a lawyer.

But Rama believes the threats against Carillo and his wife Jaybee have something to do with politics.

Jaybee, the regional information officer of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, was recently named as one of the possible candidates of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan for councilor next year.

“Timely kaayo kay gisige og float ang name ni Jaybee. Nganong iapil man ang asawa, di ba? Patagaan nato siya og escort (Why do they have to drag Carillo’s wife?). But in the meantime they should also take precautionary measures,” Rama said yesterday.

Carillo, chairman of the City Council committee on education, suspects that the letter sender was affected by the City’s school building program, since two prominent businessmen also received the same letter and death threats that he received in November last year.

The company of the businessmen is the City’s partner in the school building project.

Last Wednesday, Carillo received another letter, which stated that he only had Sept. 13 to live, and that he would be laid to rest at the Pasil Fish Port.

While he doesn’t have a police escort yet, Carillo said he and his wife will be extra careful.

“Ako na lang ning gihangad sa Ginoo. Kay bisag unsa pang armas akong dad-on, bisag kinsa pa ang escort, og patyon gyud ko, mamatay man gyud ko (I entrust this all to God. Even if I have a weapon or escort, if somebody wants me dead, no one can stop him). I believe in the power of prayer,” the councilor added.