Wednesday, October 08, 2008 No VIP treatment for Joavan in jail, warden
JOAVAN Fernandez has returned to the Talisay City Rehabilitation and Detention Center (TCRDC), again as a detainee in yet another criminal case.
Chief Insp. Johnson Calub, TCRDC chief warden, officially admitted Joavan at 12:10 p.m., as the mayor’s son joined 328 other inmates, 44 of whom are females.
He is detained at Cottage A, one of five cottages for male inmates.
Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) escorted Joavan to the jail facility, which sits on a two-hectare property in the hilly village of Maghaway, a 10-minute motorcycle ride from Barangay Tabunok, Talisay’s commercial center.
Calub assured that Joavan will be treated like the other detainees.
“He will not be accorded VIP treatment. I will not compromise my career as a jail officer just to provide him special treatment,” he added.
NBI agents arrested Joavan inside a massage parlor along the highway in Tabunok Monday night.
The NBI was armed with an arrest warrant in connection with two counts for serious illegal detention against Mayor Socrates Fernandez’s adopted son.
The TCRDC was Joavan’s home for 10 months after he was linked to a shooting that killed jeepney driver Panfilo Barinque in Barangay Cansojong in 2006.
He was released late last year after the court granted his petition for bail. Jeepney conductor Timoteo Aleo, the wounded eyewitness, and Barinque’s wife executed affidavits of desistance.
The murder case, though, is still pending in court.
Calub denied reports that the TCRDC used to allow Mayor Fernandez to see Joavan even on non-visiting days during his son’s 10-month detention.
These visits allegedly gave Mayor Fernandez the chance to bring food to Joavan.
The TCRDC’s visiting days are Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Calub admitted, though, that he allows volunteer groups to hold religious activities for all inmates during ordinary days. (GC)
