Thursday, April 19, 2007 Court allows detainee to campaign in south
THE court has allowed political prisoner Jigger Geverola to campaign in Argao, Cebu, where he is running for councilor.
In an order signed by Toledo City Regional Trial Court Judge Gaudioso Villarin, Geverola can campaign between April 22 and May 6, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and vote on May 14 in Barangay Gutlang, Argao between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The judge also ordered the jailer to provide maximum security to the accused during this period.
“I want to believe that the judge was not intimidated,” Capitol consultant on security Byron Garcia said in reaction to the order.
But he said they could not provide security for Geverola for his campaign because the jail lacks personnel. Some of them have gone on leave and their absence has affected jail operations, he said.
High-risk
“Inig botar siguro, puede, pero sa kampanya, wa mi tawo para ana (Maybe we can provide security when he votes, but not when he goes on his campaign),” Garcia said.
Garcia pointed out that there is already a memorandum from the Department of Interior and Local Government that high-risk prisoners must be placed in a more secure facility “taking into account recent events and the recurring threats to national security.”
Geverola is now detained at the military’s Central Command after he complained that he was not happy with the way the Capitol was running the provincial jail.
He is the first political detainee in Cebu to run for an elective position.
He was charged with arson and rebellion after being arrested in 2004, also in Argao. The military has identified him as the head of the Central Visayas Regional Party Committee Front 5, covering Cebu’s far north areas. The arson charge stemmed from the torching of a Philtranco bus in Catmon, northern Cebu on Dec. 11, 2001. (MBG)
