Saturday, July 26, 2008 Baquerfo camp accuses Granada of harassment, cutting power
ELECTRICITY in the town hall, gymnasium and police station of Tudela was cut off following a tense confrontation in the gym Thursday night.
Police had to fire a warning shot when supporters of warring politicians Demetrio Granada and Rogelio Baquer-fo reportedly clashed.
A group of students practicing for an upcoming presentation at the Cebu Provincial Capitol were interrupted when Granada and five of his supporters reportedly arrived.
According to a report submitted to the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), Granada allegedly told the students not to believe Rufina Polancos, who was present at the practice.
It was allegedly at this time when his supporter Bobby Gonzales switched off the lights at the gym.
Granada, however, denied accusations that he harassed the students, saying he only warned them that Polancos was misleading them. The students, he said, would not be participating in the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo.
He also plans to file a complaint against the town’s police officers, saying they over reacted to the situation.
Granada admitted he ordered Gonzales to turn off the lights because the students did not ask his permission to use electricity.
The police report also stated that the children began to cry because the incident made them nervous.
When the students began crying, supporters from the camps of Granada and Baquerfo reportedly gathered in front of the town hall located near the police station.
The tension and argument between the two camps almost ended in a fistfight, the police reported.
Insp. Ramon Villar, Tudela Police chief, said one of his officers had to fire a warning shot to ease the tension.
But Granada refuted this claim, saying the policemen’s accounts were exaggerated and that the children were not in tears.
He accused the police in Tudela of “overacting” by firing a warning shot.
Granada alleged that a member of the Special Reaction Unit was drunk, that is why he will file a case against them.
But at 11:45 p.m., power supply at the municipal hall and the Tudela Police Station was cut off.
Villar said there were indications that the power supply was cut off intentionally because the other buildings surrounding the police station still had electricity.
This alarmed police officers on duty, who reportedly went outside the police station and positioned themselves in “strategic” areas.
Villar explained that they were just being careful, especially since a hand grenade was lobbed at their police station two weeks ago.
Power supply at the municipal hall was restored at 3 a.m. yesterday and at the police station two hours after.
But Granada said he had nothing to do with the power outage at the police station and the municipal hall, saying some of the power connections merely tripped off.
He said the police did not believe him, so he had to call the Camotes Electric Cooperative to inform them that the power outage was not intentional.
Police assigned in the Camotes islands have been under full alert since last month as political tension gripped the town of Tudela.
Granada has been acting as town mayor, citing a court decision declaring him the winner in the May 2007 elections.
However, Baquerfo argued that the court no longer has jurisdiction over the electoral protest because the case had been forwarded to the Commission on Elections and that the court did not issue a writ of execution.
The Sandiganbayan recently ordered Baquerfo suspended for a case filed against him in 2004. (MEA with DRT of Sun.Star Super Balita)
