Friday, September 29, 2006 Soc says he’ll turn in his son
TALISAY City Mayor Socrates Fernandez yesterday vowed to surrender his 23-year-old adopted son once the court issues an arrest warrant in relation to the murder complaint the latter is facing.
The mayor strongly denied insinuations that Joavan Fernandez had gone into hiding, after he posted bail on a separate frustrated murder case.
“He is only enjoying his (temporary) freedom after he posted bail, but it’s not true that he is hiding. He even visited me here today asking for lunch,” Fernandez told reporters at City Hall.
The mayor’s reaction came after the Talisay City Prosecutor’s Office forwarded Wednesday to the court the information of murder against Joavan, for the killing of 49-year-old jeepney driver Panfilo Barinque.
Reports said that Barinque and his conductor, Timoteo Aleo, 33, were shot around 3:30 a.m. in the vicinity of Maglasang Village in Barangay Cansojong, Talisay City last Aug. 29.
Aleo, who survived, identified Joavan as the alleged gunman and filed a separate murder case against the suspect.
Identification
Joavan was also linked to another shooting incident that took place minutes after the attack on Aleo and Barinque.
He was also allegedly involved in the shooting of two civilians, Edmund Ong, 18, and Carlos dela Calzada, 22, in Barangay Dumlog.
Ong also filed a frustrated murder case against Joavan after identifying the latter as one of two alleged gunmen who shot him and dela Calzada while they were at a burger stand by the road.
On the murder case, City Prosecutor Marshall Rubia’s resolution said that Aleo’s positive identification of Joavan “far outweighs the defense of alibi by the respondent to establish probable cause.”
Attached to the charge sheet was a PNP Crime Laboratory report that found Joavan positive for gunpowder residue during a paraffin test.
Barinque’s wife stood as the complainant of the murder case while Aleo served as the witness.
At City Hall, Fernandez said he will present Joavan to authorities once the court issues a warrant of arrest against his son for the murder case.
‘Wrong man’
The warrant is expected to be released next week after the case is raffled off.
“I’ve already done this before. I presented him to the police after he was linked to the shooting incident. It did not mean that he was guilty then, but for him to be available for an investigation,” he said.
Fernandez claimed that Aleo had already executed an affidavit of desistance last Sept. 1, or two days after the frustrated murder case was filed in court.
“Now that I am sober, I realized I’m pinpointing to the wrong man as the gunman,” he quoted Aleo as saying.
Sought for comment, Rubia said he had no idea if an affidavit of desistance was already filed in court, adding that his office has not received a copy yet.
But if ever the court has already received the affidavit, Rubia said “the court will always ask us for comment.”
Fatherhood
Rubia clarified that the affidavit of desistance will only apply to the frustrated murder complaint of Aleo, but not to the murder case filed by Barinque’s widow.
Meanwhile, Fernandez said he was told that a political group is reportedly using his adopted son to ruin his credibility.
“Personally, I’m still analyzing this. But I’m appealing to them to let the court decide this case and not to destroy my credibility as a servant leader of the more than 150,000 population of Talisay,” he said.
He cited two incidents where Joavan was allegedly identified as the one that pointed a gun at civilians in Barangays Tanke and San Isidro, which turned out to be untrue.
In a recent privilege speech at the City Council, Councilor Alan Bucao criticized Fernandez for allegedly covering up his adopted son’s previous brushes with the law.
“He (Fernandez) is not only the father of his son but more importantly, he is the father of more than 150,000 Talisaynons,” Bucao has said. (GC)
