Friday, October 24, 2008 Soc, complainants absent during arraignment; senior citizens support mayor By Katrina A. Balmaceda & Garry A. Cabotaje Of Sun.Star Cebu
WHEN Joavan Fernandez pleaded “not guilty” before the court yesterday, neither his father nor his alleged victims were there to watch.
Along with Benedeck Gabasa, Mark Perez, Teodoro Ligaray and two minors, Joavan listened to the case information on the two counts of serious illegal detention charges filed against him over an incident last Aug. 11.
In Talisay City, meanwhile, a group of senior citizens passed a resolution expressing full support for Mayor Socrates Fernandez.
All of Joavan’s five co-accused also pleaded not guilty before Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Manuel Patalinghug yesterday.
Smile
But unlike the others, who kept their heads bowed, Joavan looked Patalinghug in the eye as he entered his plea and mustered a smile as he left the courtroom.
His father, Mayor Fernandez, was nowhere in sight. Also absent were the alleged victims, cousins Winston and Osbert Abellana.
A lone security guard set post outside Patalinghug’s packed and closed-door courtroom. But Adrian Tadena, regional marshal for the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program (WPP), was seen outside the courtroom, looking in through a window.
Osbert and his father had sought state protection exactly two weeks before yesterday’s arraignment. Tadena did not comment, though, if the two have already been admitted to the WPP.
Talisay Prosecutor William Canta then asked the court to subpoena the complainants so that they would be present at the pre-trial conference next month.
The case information still retains Winston’s name as among the complainants even if he had earlier retracted his statements blaming Joavan for the crime.
The lawyer of all six accused, George Bragat, questioned the issuance of a warrant of arrest against Joavan and asked the court to resolve his motion seeking to find probable cause against the mayor’s son.
Information
But Canta called Bragat’s motion moot, saying probable cause had already been established in the preliminary investigation.
Bragat also asked the court to furnish him information about the case, him being the counsel on record. He said that had he not read the newspapers, he would not have found out that the arraignment of the six was scheduled yesterday.
In Talisay City, members of the Talisay City Federation of Senior Citizens Associations of the Philippines Inc. (TCFSCAPI) passed a resolution expressing their full support for the leadership of Mayor Fernandez.
The group’s leader, Ruperta Olandag, said they are against the move to unseat Fernandez from his post through recall proceedings.
The federation said the recall is the handiwork of Fernandez’s political foes and private individuals who are bent on ousting him.
TCFSCAPI said it has full trust and confidence in Fernandez, “who has shown his exemplary, dynamic and Christian leadership” and transformed the former Talisay town into “a vibrant, progressive and prosperous new city.”
Private
“We, the citizens and the senior citizens, cannot tolerate the move to recall our mayor merely based on the ongoing case of his adopted son (Joavan), which is purely private in nature and not connected with his performance as chief executive of the city of Talisay,” the resolution read.
The TCFSCAPI has 2,532 members in 22 barangay chapters in Talisay City.
Olandag said Fernandez has been very supportive of their programs since he became mayor in 2004.
Among other programs, she cited the P600,000 yearly allocation for free medicines for the elderly in Talisay, which City Hall distributes quarterly.
Olandag acknowledged, though, that Fernandez might have gone too far in protecting his adopted son.
She and some association officials agreed with calls for Joavan to be confined in a rehabilitation facility, if ever he is cleared of the criminal case he is facing.
Joavan is accused of serious illegal detention for the alleged mauling of two vulcanizing shop workers in August last year. He also has a pending murder case for the
death of a jeepney driver in 2006.
For his part, Romeo Martinez, the TCFSCAPI secretary, said the opinion of the signatories of the recall petition against Fernandez does not reflect the true sentiments of Talisaynons.
“We are against the recall, we have not lost our confidence in him because the case of his son is a private matter,” said Martinez, a retired interior and local government official.
But Martinez acknowledged that it is unethical for a local chief executive to offer jobs or extend monetary aid to relatives of the victims.
The TCFSCAPI resolution came after businessman Crisologo Saavedra and former Jaclupan Barangay Captain Avelino Labajo launched last week a signature drive to oust Fernandez from his post.
As required by the Commission on Elections, the recall organizers need at least 15 percent of the registered voters’ signatures to push through with the proceedings. (KAB/GC)
