Sunday, August 12, 2007 Cases filed over mauling of photographer
CRIMINAL and administrative charges have been filed against those Bogo municipal employees who allegedly took part in mauling Sun.Star Cebu chief photographer Alex Badayos.
Lawyer Lelany Res-or confirmed the filing in an interview, adding they intend to prove the mauling was a direct result of the respondents’ intent to steal a ballot box that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) was transporting.
The police, however, have yet to file the main case— palpable violations of the Omnibus Election Code and direct assault—against the perpetrators in the July 9, 2007 mauling outside the Bogo Municipal Hall and those others who snatched the ballot box.
Reso-or said that meetings with the Provincial Police Office (CPPO), represented by SPO3 Lamberto Hibaya, resulted in the agreement that both complaints be filed at the same time.
“As soon as the firm was ready with the complaint affidavits, I contacted SPO3 Hibaya for the filing of the case. It was then that he told me that they are not filing their case here in Cebu because it will just be heard in Bogo. He said that they are filing their case together with the Comelec (Commission on Elections) in Manila,” Reso-or said in an email to Sun.Star Cebu.
Identified in the Badayos complaint are Demosthenes Bacasmas and personnel of the Bogo Traffic Management Office—Ramil Pelayo, Bobot Son, Harry Ybañez, Jikjik Monterola and Marwen Camay, all of Barangay Buac, Bogo, Cebu.
“Because of the injuries I suffered, until now my left rib cage is still very painful and I have difficulty sleeping in the night. In addition, when I checked my camera, it registered an error on some of its functions. My laptop computer likewise has shown some damage,” Badayos said in his affidavit-complaint.
He asked the anti-graft office to hold the respondents liable for indirect assault, adding that he was merely drawn into the fracas while covering Cebu Provincial Police Chief Carmelo Valmoria and Comelec lawyer Marchel Sarno—themselves subject to assault—who were performing their official act of transporting ballots.
He also charged them with physical injuries.
“I later came to know through the police investigation that the snatching of the ballot box from the hands of Comelec Officer Sarno was made successful after the concerted efforts of (21) persons,” he said.
He proceeded to identify them as Mayor Celestino Martinez Jr., the newly elected Bogo City mayor; lawyer Vicente P. Rodriquez, Bogo City legal officer; Vice Mayor Santiago Sevilla; Bogo City Councilor Geronimo Almirante; and Restituto Yee, security officer of the Office of the Mayor.
He also identified Pelayo, the Bogo traffic office employee who took part in his beating; Bacasmas; Barangay Councilman Rene Ayoso; Barangay Captain Briccio Pilapil; and Boy Alvarez, caretaker of Bogo Sports Complex.
He likewise named Eddie Toliningin of Barangay Dakit; Erwen Ursal of Barangay Buac; Rosauro Degamo of Sto. Rosario; Son, Ybañez and Monterola, co-respondents in the mauling; Rameses Ayuso of Barangay Pandan; Julieto Tero of Barangay Pandan; Cezar Labastida of Barangay Labastida; and Joaquin Quifiana, all supporters of the mayor. (KNR)
