Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Not one gun seized from ‘goons’ licensed
SALVADOR dela Fuente, Mayor Lety Mancio’s closed rival for the mayoral seat in Madridejos town in northern Cebu, filed another petition for disqualification against Mancio.
This time, dela Fuente cited newspaper reports quoting Mancio as admitting that the armed men who were arrested in Madridejos are with her group.
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007
Dela Fuente, in a petition filed before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Provincial Office yesterday, said Mancio violated Section 33 of Republic Act 7166.
The section prohibits candidates and officials from “employing, availing, and engaging the services of security personnel or bodyguards without application and approval” from the Comelec.
Dela Fuente attached clippings of newspapers bearing the news report of the arrest.
Amid talks of hired goons for the May 14 elections, the opposition is asking for a headcount of the inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).
Vice gubernatorial candidate Clavel Asas-Martinez said the headcount is necessary after receiving reports that some of the inmates are “roaming around with firearms.”
Martinez said that based on the report she received, CPDRC inmates have been sighted in the town of Naga and Daanbantayan.
She believes this is done to “terrorize the voters” in the upcoming polls.
But Byron Garcia, Capitol consultant on security, said in a phone interview that Martinez is welcome to attend the headcount at the provincial jail, which is done three times a day.
“I will give her a head-count. Pakapinan pa nako sa headcount sa ako mga baboy (I will even include a head-count of pigs),” Garcia said.
He also challenged Martinez to bring her “sources” to CPDRC and pinpoint the specific inmate they have seen roaming outside the jail with firearms.
As of now, there are 1,579 inmates and all are accounted for, Garcia said.
Meanwhile, lawyer Natha-niel Clarus, in a telephone interview yesterday, said the new petition dela Fuente filed only shows that Mancio’s opponent is already “desperate.”
Clarus also said they did not hire goons, and that Mancio does not have armed goons.
He said the arrested men were working as Mancio’s security guard in 2001, even before she became mayor.
As to the police’s report that the firearms confiscated are not licensed, Clarus said the burden is with the police.
“They must present a certificate that the guns are not licensed. The burden is not with us to present the license,” Clarus said. When asked whether the firearms indeed are licensed, he replied, “You will know better.
Rufino Mancio, husband of Lety, earlier said the firearms are licensed and that two of the five men arrested were his wife’s bodyguards.
But Acting Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Carmelo Valmoria told reporters yesterday that the .22 Black Widow revolver and the US carbine rifle are not among the list of guns that can be approved to gun holders.
As for the .9mm Lugger automatic machine pistol, Valmoria said this was licensed to Rufino but it expired on March 24, 2007.
Valmoria, who talked with Firearms Explosives Security Agencies and Guards Supervisory Section (Fesagss) 7 Chief Rey Lyndon Lawas, said this was the feedback from the central office.
Valmoria earlier sent a request to the Fesagss 7 to verify the ownership of the three firearms seized from five men in Barangay, Kaungkod, Madridejos town Thursday night.
Wilfredo Bacus Bacalso, 38, of Barangay Cubacub, Mandaue City, 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 were arrested at a checkpoint.
Clarus filed yesterday a motion for preliminary investigation on the cases for violation of gun ban and illegal possession of firearms that their men are facing.
He said his clients are entitled to this procedure because they are facing a case where the penalty is more than four years. (JPM/MEA/KNT)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. ( May 8, 2007 issue)
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