Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Guard, pal shoot at policeman
FEARING that Sitio Luton in Barangay Mabini will become a war zone of sorts, Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo recommended the immediate setting up of a police detachment and a checkpoint in the area.
A policeman detailed in the area was also shot at and suffered bruises after falling off a hill.
“Ato ning ipadali ang checkpoint ug police detachment kay murag magpinatyanay na ang mga tawo didto (We have to set it up immediately because it seems people there want to kill each other),” Carillo told Sun.Star Cebu.
He sent the request to Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador after hearing that security guards of the warring lots owners in Sitio Luton have fired at each other while a policeman was patrolling the area, sending the cop down the hill.
The CCPO, for its part, is filing a complaint of attempted homicide against a security guard and his companion for allegedly shooting at a policeman detailed in an outpost in Sitio Luton in Mabini last Sunday.
Aside from bruises, SPO2 Venerando Villaban, a member of CCPO’s Security and Service Group (SSG) survived unscathed from the attack.
The suspects were identified as Reynaldo A. Altar, 30, of the CSIS Security Agency; and Armando S. Talisik, 47, a resident in the barangay. The two were reportedly drunk when they fired at the policeman. They tested positive in a liquor test.
Carillo wants the police to check all security guards of both warring camps upon entry and exit from Luton, and all of them will be required to register with the police.
Allowed entry
He said only security guards who are registered should be allowed to enter the sitio.
“I don’t know what is taking CCPO so long to set up the detachment when we have long given them the construction materials needed for it. So while the people there won’t behave, we will set up the police detachment and checkpoint.”
Register
All security guards should register with the police before entering the area,” said Carillo.
He said there are only two policemen assigned to patrol the sitio periodically.
Sought for comment yesterday, property owners Roy Seno and Teodorico Adarna Jr. blamed each other for the incident.
Adarna said it was Seno’s blue guards who first fired at his security guards. But Seno said in a phone interview that it was Adarna’s guards who fired shots when his security guards were talking to their neighbors.
Seno admitted that his guards fired warning shots after Adarna’s guards fired their guns.
Seno and Adarna have been at odds with each other for some years now because of a land dispute. Last May, Mayor Tomas Osmeña issued a cease-and-desist order after Adarna’s excavation work on the disputed properties caused a landslide there, blocking both lanes of the barangay’s main road.
A team from the SSG, led by Senior Insp. Bonifacio Garciano, was dispatched in the area last Sunday after receiving a call from Seno about a strafing incident past 1 p.m.
The team also received a call for backup from Villaban after he and a barangay councilor were reportedly shot at by the suspects.
When Garciano’s team arrived, Altar was already arrested by Villaban. Altar reportedly was in possession of a .38 revolver loaded with five bullets when arrested.
Police also arrested Talisik after Villaban pointed to him as one of those who shot him. (LCR/JST)
