Editorial: ‘Again’ and the Joavan saga

THE operative word is “again” when one talks nowadays about Joavan, adopted son of Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez.

Couple Jonathan and Irene Ignacio filed a criminal complaint against Joavan accusing him of threatening them at gunpoint during a traffic accident in Talisay last Feb. 5.

For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter

That was Joavan’s run-in with the law “again.”

When the Ignacios signed an affidavit of desistance that was handed to the prosecutor’s office by a Talisay City Hall employee, that was Team Joavan amicably settling a case “again.”

The word “again” signifies repetitiveness, something that, in the case of Joavan, many Talisay and Cebu folks find disconcerting.

Debate

The disconcerting part, especially on the matter of alleged victims settling the case, is that the act may not contribute to the effort to prevent Joavan from being accused of a transgression again by realizing it won’t do him good.

Here, one wonders if Brod Soc is again (there goes the word once more) doing what he was accused of doing before: work to extricate Joavan from the mess by using objectionable methods.

Among these are reportedly offers of money and/or government job to get victims and witnesses to desist from pursuing or strengthening a case filed against Joavan.

To be fair to the mayor, no information about such actuation has surfaced in the Ignacio case and all people have are speculations.

The mayor, though, could not blame anybody but him if such thinking surfaces considering the experience in Joavan’s previous scrapes with the law.

As a result, the unending debate about how a mayor, who is also a devout Catholic, should deal with an erring son has been rekindled.

Ending

Which brings us to another instance where “again” is once more the operative word.

If past incidents involving Joavan are to be used as gauge, expect the discussion to slowly diminish “again” and his latest run-in with the law forgotten, until the next offense is committed.

That, though, should not make the mayor callous.

Because like in any other process that has been started, there is bound to be an end to the Joavan saga, and Brod Soc can only hope it will be a happy one, like Joavan changing for the better.

The other endings may not be palatable to him.