FIVE men armed with high-powered firearms were arrested in a checkpoint by the subtask group in Bantayan Island Thursday night.
Their arrest came at a time when police are extra-vigilant in the island following the fatal shooting of the Sta. Fe mayoral candidate Rogelio Ilustrisimo Sr.
Sta Fe is one of the towns in the northern Cebu island.
Chief Insp. Julian Entoma, the new head of subtask group in Bantayan Island, led the checkpoint in Barangay Kaungkod, Madridejos town at 10 p.m.
Police declined to say if the five were hired goons of a political party, saying they were still undergoing tactical interrogation to determine their purpose in the town.
In an interview, Madri-dejos Mayor Lety Mancio admitted that the arrested persons were her men.
But she denied they are her goons, as they are just her private security guards.
She did not even know that they went out Thursday night to respond to a call from a supporter who reported he was harassed.
But Section 2(c) of Comelec Resolution 7764 prohibits “any candidate for public office, including incumbent officials seeking election…or any other person, to employ, avail himself of or engage the services of security personnel or bodyguards, whether or not such bodyguards are members or officers of the PNP, the AFP or any other law enforcement agency of the government.”
A gun ban is also in effect Jan. 14, 2007 to June 13, 2007 for the elections.
The same Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolution prohibits “any person, including those possessing a permit to carry firearms outside of residence or place of business, to bear, carry, or transport firearms or other deadly weapons in public places including any building, street, park, private vehicle or public conveyance.”
Seized from the five men in Madridejos were a 9 mm Luger automatic machine pistol, a carbine rifle and a Black Widow .22 revolver. Also seized were several rounds of ammunition.
Insp. Jose Rovic Villarin, chief of the Madridejos Police Station, said the team led by Entoma stopped the van and told the driver to turn on the lights inside.
When the driver declined, they turned on their flashlights and saw the three guns inside.
Villarin was ordered by Acting Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Carmelo Valmoria to make a thorough investigation.
Valmoria has recommended that the island of Bantayan be placed under the control of the Commission on Elections, citing intense political rivalry.
The island is currently an election area of concern, which is why a separate subtask group was created for the duration of the election period.
Reports of armed men, intense political rivalry and incidents of previous elections led the police and the poll body to pay special attention to the island.
Majority of the candidates of the island signed a peace covenant in the presence of election and police officers.
Entoma, in a phone interview, told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday that that it was the muzzle of the carbine rifle that caught the attention of one of his men.
He said it was sticking out from under the floor of the white Toyota van.
When they asked the passengers to get out, a black bag was taken from the possession of Wilfredo Bacus Bacalso, 38, of Barangay Cubacub, Mandaue City.
The bag contained the 9 mm Luger automatic machine pistol and the .22 Black Widow.
The other passengers were identified as Roldan Dakutan, 48, of Pagsabugan, Mandaue City, Cesar Jabagin, 32, of Tarong, Madridejos and Romeo Santillan, 40, and Allan Doble Mancio, 32, of Malbago, Madridejos.
Dakutan was the driver of the vehicle.
The white Toyota van was registered to one Shirley Regis, a municipal employee of Madridejos.
Asked what they were doing there, they told police that they were conducting roving patrols in Barangays Kaungkod and San Agustin.
“I asked them why they needed guns and if they knew that a gun ban was in effect. They told me they needed these to defend themselves,” Entoma said in Cebuano.
They declined to say who they worked for, invoking their right to remain silent.
But Mayor Mancio, who is running for reelection under Kampi party, said the van was used by her private security guards and when their shift ended, they just left the firearms inside instead of surrendering these to the guard house of Mancio’s residence.
When they heard that their supporter in San Agustin was harassed, the five responded and used the van without knowing that there were firearms left inside. (MEA/MBG)
