Thursday, June 19, 2008 Ombud to probe Fuente incident
THE Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas is looking into reports that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña was armed when he apprehended traffic violators in Fuente Osmeña circle over the weekend.
Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol said the office would open a docket on the case and use as reference newspaper accounts of the incident.
Osmeña, however, denied allegations he was armed and drunk during the incident. He said he will welcome any investigation.
A radio dyLA report said the mayor had denied getting drunk that night, although he admitted he just come from a function when he chanced upon the erring drivers in Fuente Osmeña.
Osmeña allegedly used his firearm to knock on doors of the vehicles of the erring drivers but his son Miguel allegedly got out of the car and took the firearm from him.
In another dyLA report, Basak Pardo Barangay Captain Dave Tumulak was quoted as saying that he did not see the mayor holding a firearm when Osmeña apprehended his driver.
Interview
Tumulak, who is also a radio reporter of ABS-CBN’s dyAB, was on a roving assignment gathering news stories when the driver of their vehicle was apprehended by the mayor.
Tumulak said he interviewed the mayor and did not notice if he was drunk. He also did not see a firearm.
“Normal ra man ang iyang sinultian. Ako siyang gi-interview pero wala ko nakakita ug armas, igo ra ko nipasalamat sa iyang pagdakop sa among driver kay sad-an man sad ang driver (He was speaking normally. I just interviewed him and I didn’t see any gun. I thanked him for arresting the driver because he committed a violation),” Tumulak said.
Tumulak said he is willing to cooperate in any investigation.
Complainant
At the ombudsman, Apostol said he prefers that a complainant formally shows up and file charges. He said those who wrote of the incident were not present and could not testify.
Apostol declined to comment further, saying this was now an open case.
But an anti-graft lawyer, who asked not to be named, said a complainant and a formal statement are necessary because the incident — an armed mayor apprehending traffic violators — does not constitute an offense.
Authorized
The source explained that Sec. 455(2iv) of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, authorizes city mayors to carry firearms within the territorial jurisdiction of their office.
The source said carrying the gun is secondary to the mayor’s duty of enforcing “all laws and ordinances relative to the governance of the city.”
“If the mayor is enforcing the law and carrying a gun, he is actually just doing his job,” the source said.
But the conditions change if somebody can testify that the mayor was not simply doing his job but was actually harassing and threatening the people or was drunk when he went out armed, to direct traffic.
“That is why a formal complaint is necessary,” the source said.
Sun.Star Cebu columnist Bobby Nalzaro broke the story about the incident. Nalzaro, in writing about the incident, quoted a “very reliable source.”
Concerned
The source reportedly witnessed Osmeña holding a pistol and using it to knock on doors of vehicles parked in front of a hotel in the area.
Quoting the report, lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda said the anti-graft office should investigate the incident. He said he was concerned over the incident because it happened in Fuente Osmeña, a park being claimed by Capitol. (KNR/LCR)
