BECAUSE I have not seen the documents or talked to the parties, I am relying on newspaper reports for the facts in what SunStar Cebu described in its headline Wednesday as the Inayawan Feud. This is what I gathered:
Inayawan, through its old set of barangay officials, donated a parcel of land to the police as site for a police satellite station. Before the construction of the police building could start, however, a new set of officials had taken over the barangay and they wanted to recover the donated property, offering another lot in its stead.
The police refused the trade and instead had its contractor fence the donated lot, preparatory to the construction of the station. Barangay officials, led by its captain Kirk Bryan Repollo, promptly destroyed the fence, claiming that it was a traffic hazard.
Now Repollo is crying that he is being harassed while the region’s top police official, General Debold Sinas, said he will report to President Duterte. What a strange twist to something that reasonable men could have otherwise discussed soberly over a cup of coffee.
There is no doubt that the police own the donated lot. The incumbent barangay officials are not impugning the donation by their predecessors; in fact, by proposing to exchange lots, they have evidently recognized the ownership by the police.
On the other hand, the barangay has a duty to promote the safety of those who use the road that the fence abuts. If the structure did endanger the lives of the motorists, Repollo would have been remiss in his responsibilities if he had not acted decisively.
But does decisiveness mean removing the fence without as much as a by-your-leave to the owner? Repollo said he was authorized to do so, invoking his police powers. In other words, he “police-powered” the police.
Now, they’re trading charges of politicking. The barangay captain said the regional police chief was picking on him because he was BOPK and allied with Mayor Tomas Osmeña. (Repollo is a BOPK candidate for councilor in the city’s south district.)
The police are supposed to be politically neutral. In claiming that Sinas was running after him and two other BOPK-allied barangay captains because they are Osmeña’s men, Repollo is proposing that political neutrality in Cebu City is a myth because Sinas is taking sides in the May elections. That’s a serious charge and Repollo should be prepared to back it up with something more than his own say-so.
I expect Sinas to deny the accusation, if he has not done so yet. Already, he has turned the tables on Repollo, accusing the latter of political motivation in opposing their project.
And he said more and it is probably why Repollo was crying when he faced the media. The police are doing a background check on the village head, Sinas said, to determine why he failed to monitor the presence of illegal drugs in Inayawan. As for the destroyed fence, he will report to Duterte, he said.
A donated lot, a proposed police station, a destroyed fence and politics. We couldn’t look for a more entertaining brew.