SENIOR Superintendent Rodolfo Castil Jr., provincial director of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, said March 19 that he is still waiting for the explanation of the investigator/custodian of Moises Padilla Municipal Police Station regarding the accident involving the town's vehicle.
Castil said he ordered the custodian to submit a written explanation within 24 hours.
On March 18, Benedick Isidro, 43, a member of the town's Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team and a resident of Barangay Alijis, Bacolod City, was driving the Mitsubishi Strada pick-up truck owned by the town when he lost control and hit an acacia tree at Barangay Crossing Magallon in Moises Padilla.
He sustained injuries and was brought to Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City.
Reports alleged that the pick-up truck was impounded last year during a raid, wherein Vice Mayor Ella Celestina Garcia-Yulo and husband Felix Yulo III were arrested for alleged illegal possession of explosives and firearms. The couple was released later upon the orders of the Provincial Prosecutor's Office due to insufficient evidence.
Castil said he already talked with the town's new police chief, Chief Inspector Joshua Villasis about the matter. However, Villasis told him that the car has been used even before he assumed the post last week.
He said, "There has been no order yet from the fiscal to release the vehicle or even to use it."
He said he cannot yet comment on the matter until he hears the side of the custodian. But he already directed the Provincial Investigation and Detection Management Unit to probe the incident once they already have a basis.