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Monday, May 14, 2007
Guns, cash in Cebu town mayor’s van
By Aledel Gonzales-Cuizon
With Jovy S. Taghoy
CEBU CITY -- Three firearms, assorted ammunition and bundles of cash were seized Sunday afternoon from inside a black Starex van traced to Cordova Mayor Arleigh Sitoy and his father Adelino, who is running for town mayor.
The van (YCA 761) was parked at a fastfood outlet in Lapu-Lapu City last Saturday night yet, but wasn’t opened until acting Provincial Election Officer Lionel Castillano authorized local police to do so past 3 p.m. Sunday.
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Campaign materials and assorted documents were also found inside the van.
Police could not say yet if the discovery was linked, at all, to the strafing at 2 a.m. Sunday of the residential compound of Cordova mayoral aspirant Danilo Sinugbuhan in Barangay Gabi.
No one got hurt, but a store near the compound’s fence, which Sinugbuhan used as his security’s quarters, bore at least six bullet holes as a result.
Policemen from the Cordova Police Station recovered six empty shells at the scene. No witnesses have showed up to help identify the perpetrators.
Sympathy
Mayor Sitoy told Sun.Star Cebu that both the discovery of firearms in the van and the strafing in Cordova were part of their opponent’s “political gimmickry to earn sympathy votes.”
He admitted that his father owns the van, but lent the vehicle to him for his family’s use. Prior to Saturday’s incident, Arleigh said he used the van to bring barangay officials and leaders to McDonald’s, where they were having a meeting.
When he was informed that police officers wanted to open the van, Arleigh asked for a search warrant. And when the law enforcers failed to present one, Arleigh told them to talk to his lawyers.
He also said he had no idea “kon naa bay sulod ang (if there was anything inside the) van aside from the people who were in it.”
When he traced how the allegations came about, Arleigh said it came from Andres Dinoy, a candidate for councilor on Sinugbuhan’s ticket. It was reportedly Dinoy who tipped his brother, PO3 Ruel Dinoy, about the van and set up what Arleigh described as an “entrapment.”
“Posible nga nay nag-alyansa. (They may have forged an alliance.) Gi-budget-an man kuno mi nila just to pin us down,” he told Sun.Star Cebu in a mobile phone interview.
Wanted man?
Information about the presence of a man wanted for murder and robbery prompted intelligence operatives to rush to the parking lot of a fastfood outlet along M. L. Quezon Ave. last Saturday night.
According to Lapu-Lapu City Police Station chief Noel Gillamac, the intelligence operatives were acting on a tip that Richielieu Amodia, alias Gaygay, was at the vicinity together with some armed men.
No Amodia was found, but policemen noticed the van parked in front of the fastfood outlet.
A police report listed a rifle and a pistol as among the items inside the van, in an inventory signed by Pajo Barangay Councilor Manuel Regado.
The items were seen from the outside.
Sitoy is on his third term as mayor of the municipality and barred from seeking reelection.
His father, lawyer Adelino Sitoy, is running for the post.
Adelino’s first cousin and Arleigh’s vice mayor, lawyer Danilo Sinugbuhan, is challenging Adelino for the mayorship.
Sinugbuhan, who went to the fastfood outlet Sunday afternoon, said in an interview that he believes the strafing of his house Sunday dawn was related to the discovery of the van.
Sinugbuhan added he is considering the filing of a disqualification case for a violation of the gun ban or illegal possession of firearms.
Castillano, however, told reporters the police will still pursue the investigation. He said he couldn’t consider the incident election-related yet.
The van was discovered around 9:30 p.m. last Saturday night but operatives of the Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco) opened it past 6 p.m. Sunday at the police station compound.
Soco operatives found a 9 mm pistol, a KG 9 with silencer and an M4 rifle along with magazines and assorted live ammunition.
Other pieces of ammunition were found inside grocery bags and a brown box found at the back of the van.
A black Samsonite trolley contained bundles of money in P100 and P200 denominations. It also had some documents contained in folders.
A Samsonite laptop bag also contained several pieces of ammunition. A briefcase contained a book, several magazines and other documents.
There were also plastic bags containing campaign stickers bearing the names of Adelino, his vice mayoral candidate Stephanie Tiro and their lineup of councilors.
Soco operatives also recovered a jacket, three sticks, holsters and belts.
Past 1 p.m. Sunday, the presence of armed personnel of the Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) prompted motorists to slow down in front of the fastfood outlet.
Curious onlookers also crowded the façade of the building.
Later, more policemen came.
Information about an attempt to take the Starex van heightened police alert and prompted the Swat personnel to use steel railings to block the vehicle.
Independent congressional candidate Vicente “Tingting” de la Serna was also at the McDonald’s outlet and was able to talk to Sinugbuhan.
They were accompanied by their supporters, prompting Swat team leader Filendo Navarro to appeal to de la Serna and Sinugbuhan to let their supporters stay a good distance from the fastfood outlet.
The incident caused the fastfood outlet to cease operations for a while.
Around 3:30 p.m., Comelec’s Castillano arrived and talked for a while with Gillamac before peeping inside the van.
Castillano then saw a long firearm and said there was no need to wait for a search warrant to open the van.
Sinugbuhan told Sun.Star that the incident is so far the most serious that has happened during an election period.
He said that a change is called for in Cordova, which has been under the administration of the Sitoys for over 30 years.
“This game is between me and Arleigh. This goes back to our childhood years. He always loses to me in chess or war games. The decision for his father to run was the influence of the son,” Sinugbuhan later told reporters when he was on his way out of the fastfood outlet.
He said that he would go on with his scheduled activities today.
“If they want to shoot me, go ahead…Life is short anyway,” Sinugbuhan said.(Sun.Star Cebu) |
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