Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Slain cop’s kin score witnesses’ reluctance
FAMILY members of PO1 Herminio Caylan are dismayed that no one has come forward to tell how 29-year-old Caylan died in a shootout between fraternities last Sunday dawn in Mandaue City.
Caylan’s mother-in-law Rita Yee said they tried to ask the people in Lower Hermag, Barangay Pagsabungan, Mandaue City but they only said, “Ambot (We don’t know).”
Yee and Caylan’s 23-year-old wife Mary Joy expressed frustration over the lack of witnesses during a talk with policemen who visited Caylan’s wake at the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 chapel yesterday.
The Mandaue City police is also having a hard time in its investigation. Basak police station chief Seigfred Torribio said nobody is willing to issue statements about what happened last Sunday dawn.
This as members of Alpha Kappa Rho (Akrho) and Betans signed a “peace agreement” at the Mandaue City Hall yesterday afternoon.
They signed the pact after Acting Mayor Amadeo Seno Jr. shared his experience as a fratman who was jailed twice for getting involved in rumbles.
Seno was a member of Sigma Rho when he was studying at the University of the Philippines College of Law in Diliman, Quezon City.
The shooting at Lower Hermag also killed Luis Dimpas III, member of Alpha Kappa Rho (Akrho); Jomar Cañete, member of Beta Gamma Rho (BRP); and Edna Inowe, who was hit by a stray bullet.
The incident prompted Seno to meet with Mandaue City Police Office Director Alexander Abadinas and all police station chiefs yesterday afternoon.
The meeting also served as a dialog with officers and members of fraternities in Mandaue. It was the first time such a conference was held in Mandaue.
Richard Buscayno, Akrho regional president, and members of another group, Betans, were present.
“I don’t care who started it but we should stop this,” Seno told the police officials and the fraternity members.
Buscayno acknowledged that Akrho members have a conflict with members of Betans and BRP.
Torribio said in yesterday’s meeting that he regards BRP as a gang reportedly involved in robbery, making them criminal elements.
“If we must use our iron hand, we will use our iron hand,” Seno said.
In a separate interview, PRO 7 Director Silverio Alarcio Jr. said he is contemplating on a posthumous award for PO1 Caylan.
Alarcio directed Senior Supt. Drusilo Bolodo, chief of the Directorial Staff of PRO 7, to look into a possible medal.
PRO 7 will also be shouldering Caylan’s burial expenses.
Asked if he was worried about the growing number of frat-related incidents in Mandaue, Alarcio said they already met leaders of fraternities last March.
“Some members were not just involved in fraternity violence. They were also involved in robberies,” Alarcio revealed.
He said the leaders were asked to clean their ranks because they were already “developing a culture of violence.”
Caylan’s mother-in-law Yee also lost a son, an alleged member of BRP, in a shooting by an Akrho member early last year. Mary Joy, who works in a mall in Cebu City, revealed that the shootout happened just a few meters outside their rented house in Hermag.
She admitted that although she was very sleepy already, she saw her husband come into their room around 2 a.m. to get a gun from a drawer.
The nanny of Herminio and Mary Joy’s only child, a four-year-old girl, arrived in the house 15 minutes later from a disco but she did not see the policeman.
Around 2:30 a.m., Mary Joy heard gun shots. She run to the area and found her husband bleeding.
Along the way, a civilian she could not identify because she could not clearly see his face in the dark overtook her and pick up her husband’s gun.
This man, whom Mary Joy described to have one-length hair and wore faded jeans and a dark-colored shirt, helped her and another civilian carry Herminio into a van nearby.
Mary Joy had asked the men who helped her where the gun was, but all of them said they didn’t know.
The policeman was taken to the Cortes General Hospital, where he died.
PO1 Greg Abasolo and PO1 Jethro Puao, close friends of Caylan, said the slain policeman was friendly, helpful and dedicated to his work.
Caylan was a member of the Regional Mobile Group based in Sibonga but he was also a volunteer of the Direct Support Office.
“He (Caylan) is a loss to me,” said Regional Direct Support Office Chief Alexander Soledad. (NRC/AAG/MEA)
