Wednesday, August 27, 2008 Joavan admits he carries firearm, appeals to public not to judge him
“DON’T prejudge me.”
Joavan Fernandez, the adopted son of Mayor Socrates Fernandez, made this appeal in the wake of reports linking him to harassments and other controversies in Talisay City.
In his first media interview, he also admitted he carries a gun with him, a statement that didn’t jibe with his father’s earlier claim that Joavan only carries a plastic toy gun.
“Ako na nang gigakos si Joavan, plastic na ang iyang giingon nga armas,” Mayor Ferandez earlier said.
But in an interview over radio dyHP Monday night, Joavan admitted he has a firearm for protection. He did not specify, though, the make of the firearm.
The victims of his alleged harassment mentioned that Joavan was armed with a high-powered sub-machine gun.
“I carry one for my personal safety, in case somebody attacks me,” he said during the interview, which was also aired over radio dyRF Radio Fuerza yesterday morning.
But he said he doesn’t carry the firearm outside of his house.
Joavan also dared his detractors to go with him to at least know him.
He denied he has gone into hiding, saying he is willing to turn himself in but only through legal or lawful means.
Joavan gamely answered questions about him allegedly beating up two vulcanizing shop workers, his angry remarks against Petron gas attendants, the reported abduction of two women in Barangay Linao and the use of the City-owned motorized boat for island hopping.
On the mauling incident, he admitted picking up Jimmy Abellana’s son, Winston, over the missing spare tire of his father’s service vehicle, a Toyota Revo.
The mayor had the busted tire fixed at Bebot’s vulcanizing shop owned by Mercedita Abellana along the highway in Barangay Tabunok.
Joavan said he just wanted to take custody of Winston in the absence of Jimmy, who was not around, to turn him over to the police later.
He reportedly got furious when the teenager fled while he went to his vehicle for a stick of cigarette, Joavan said.
It was reported that Joavan came back with his friends aboard a blue Multicab and picked up Winston’s 21-year-old cousin, Osbert. The incident happened early dawn of Aug. 11.
Osbert’s father Oscar and a police team, led by PO2 Edwin Alvarado, came to their rescue and arrested Joavan’s five cohorts.
Joavan also confessed he got angry when Petron gas attendants in Barangay Lawaan I refused to refuel his Isuzu Trooper Bighorn, especially that he brought with him a note signed by his father to have the purchase charged to the mayor’s credit account.
The note reportedly bore the letterhead of the Office of the Mayor, raising speculations that the refueling could have been charged to City Hall or Mayor Fernandez’s discretionary funds.
“I only wanted them to accord my father a little respect as somebody prominent in the city,” Joavan said.
He said he got irked even more when the pump boy reportedly requested him to step off his vehicle. He said he is not used to it.
Out of frustration, Joavan reportedly threatened to blow the gas station up and cocked his firearm in full view of pump boy Edward dela Torre.
Joavan said he was upset at the policemen who chased him after he drove two female friends home in Linao last week. One of the girls was a 15-year-old niece of Barangay Councilor Wendell Caparida.
Police launched a high-speed chase all the way to the South Road Properties but failed to catch up with Joavan, who was using a green Mitsubishi Pajero.
Joavan asked why the police was hot on his trail when the two girls were not taken by force.
“Sakitan ko, ako kuno gipugos, dili lang unta ko nila personalon (I’m hurt. They shouldn’t have taken it personally),” he said.
The police responded to Caparida’s report that his niece failed to return home the next day.
It turned out that the girls reportedly were only having a get-together with Joavan at a beach in Cansojong and took a joyride aboard a motorized boat of the Fishermen Sea Ecological Care (Fiseca).
Fiseca, headed by Gregorio dela Torre, is Talisay City’s version of Bantay Dagat and operates under Mayor Fernandez’s office.
Dela Torre admitted he allowed Joavan to use the boat for a joyride, saying he could not refuse the mayor’s son.
In the same radio interview, Joavan saw nothing wrong in using the motorboat, saying he used his personal money for the boat’s fuel.
Joavan said he doesn’t seek his father’s help whenever he gets into trouble. (GC)
