Thursday, April 12, 2007 Captain denies harassing Guardo’s kin
BUOT-TAUP Barangay Captain Rosalita Callino yesterday denied the allegation that armed men threatened congressional aspirant Jonathan Guardo’s cousin last month.
She said her tanods and a policeman detailed in her barangay merely accosted the man and a companion to ask who they were.
Guardo last week said he would ask the Commission on Elections to place Cebu City’s mountain barangays under its control because of harassment experienced by his leaders.
He cited what happened to his cousin Ariel, who allegedly was threatened by armed men, among them a police officer, in Buot-Taup last March 18.
Callino said that Ariel and a companion passed by her outside a store. What caught her attention, she added, was Ariel’s companion, who also turned out to be a relative of Jonathan’s.
“Ariel’s companion was a big man with long hair and lots of tattoos on his back and arms. I thought he was a military man because they were riding in what looked like a military jeep,” Callino said.
Callino said that three tanods and a policeman stopped Ariel and Philip and asked who they were, but the two men reportedly did not reply and instead drove towards Sitio Simboryo.
A Simboryo resident later told her that Ariel conducted a pulong-pulong in their place, prompting her to order the tanods to establish a checkpoint.
“Nagpanagana man gani ang pulis kay basin armado tong duha (The police didn’t want to take any chances because the two men may have been armed),” Callino said, adding that Philip gave the tanods the finger when they left.
Meanwhile, Guardo said that in declining the Genuine Opposition’s challenge to a debate, Mayor Tomas Osmeña and the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) deprived the public of the opportunity to know them better.
The mayor, who is seeking his third and last term, earlier said he would not engage the GO candidates in a debate because it would only give them publicity. (RHM)
