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Monday, March 29, 2004
PB dad: Calingin beat us to helping injured farmer
CALINGIN'S camp beat us to it.
Provincial Board (PB) Member Norris Babiera said this in response to allegations about the alleged failure by the Provincial Capitol to care for shooting victim and Claveria town farmer Jonathan Caberto.
The statement came amid criminal and administrative charges recently filed by the camp of suspended Misamis Oriental Gov. Antonio Calingin against acting Gov. Miguel de Jesus and Provincial Police Mobile Group (PPMG) members.
The charges stemmed from the recent recovery of a dumptruck and payloader in Claveria town, Misamis Oriental, which Claveria residents and Claveria Mayor Paul Douglas Calingin insisted had gotten out of hand.
Aside from de Jesus and Babiera, those facing charges are PPMG director, Chief Insp. Raul Benitez, a certain Inspector Fontalva and Inspector Tambis.
As PPMG members tried to disperse a determined number of Claveria residents blocking their path to Apos-Kahoy, Claveria where the equipment was located they fired shots in the air and ground.
One of these shots supposedly found its way to Caberto who sustained severe gunshot wounds on his left ear. De Jesus debunked the reports saying Caberto was one kilometer away when the shooting occured.
PNP 10 Deputy for Operations Tito Cagurangan echoed de Jesus's point, saying it was impossible that PPMG members hit Caberto.
However, he said he's not ruling out the possibility that someone near Caberto's house fired the shot that injured the young farmer. Cagurangan said they are looking into this angle.
Meanwhile, PB Member Babiera said Caberto's mother Rosita approached him and asked for assistance to pay for the medical expenses of her son incurred at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), which ran up to thousands of pesos.
"We were looking for a way to do that and we even wrote a letter to the NMMC asking them to defray the expenses but we were later informed that the people of Claveria Mayor Paul Douglas Calingin came and took Caberto in," he said.
Sun.Star tried but failed to contact Calingin's side on this matter. Mayor Calingin earlier confirmed that Caberto is under his care.
Earlier, Calingin cited Rosita's account that people supposedly under orders from Babiera went to the NMMC sometime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. last Tuesday and offered P6,000 and three sacks of rice in exchange for signing an affidavit of desistance. (Stephen Capillas)
(March 29, 2004 issue)
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