Local police officials in Talisay City will investigate allegations that Joavan Fernandez, not his father Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez, was involved in a vehicular accident where a motorcycle driver was injured.
The mayor, in a radio report yesterday, admitted he was the one who drove his white Toyota Revo service vehicle that accidentally hit the motorcycle of Colin Labrado Lao.
He said Joavan, who almost hit a motorcycle-riding couple last month, was driving his green Pajero.
To erase allegations of bias, Supt. Henry Binas of the Talisay City Police Station will head the inquiry on the alleged involvement of the mayor and his son.
After the incident at 12:15 p.m. Monday, reports circulated that Joavan was the one driving the mayor’s service vehicle and that the mayor was only claiming he was behind the wheel to protect his adopted son.
Mayor Fernandez accidentally bumped Lao at the San Isidro intersection of the Cebu South Coastal Road.
Biñas, however, said that based on their initial investigation, it was really Mayor Fernandez who drove the service vehicle and that Joavan was driving a separate vehicle that was tailing the Revo.
The mayor’s son was previously accused of waving his gun at a couple and yelling at them that Talisay City is his turf, after he almost bumped them on the highway in Barangay Lawaan.
But if it will be proven that Joavan was really the one who drove the service vehicle, Mayor Fernandez will have to answer for allowing his son to use his Toyota Revo with a government plate, said Biñas.
However, in radio DyAB report, Mayor Fernandez denied the allegations that Joavan was the one who drove his service vehicle, and admitted that he was the one who bumped Lao.
Fernandez said that Joavan was at the City Hall before the incident, and when he left the office, his son followed him on board his Pajero.
He said that when the incident happened, it was Joavan who helped him make sure Lao was brought to the hospital.
He had Lao brought to the Talisay City District Hospital by trisikad, and told the doctors there that he was willing to shoulder the victim’s medical expenses.
Mayor Fernandez also admitted that he sustained burn injuries in his hand after accidentally holding the exhaust pipe of the motorcycle when he attempted to lift it.