THE police are now conducting an investigation into the riot that erupted around 2 a.m. on Monday, September 25, 2023, at the Siomai Festival, a culminating activity for the fiesta celebration in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City.
A video of the incident, which was later uploaded and went viral on social media, showed a man being briefly lynched by a group of young people, although it was cut short after they were subdued.
Because of this, Cebu City Police Office Chief Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog instructed his men at the Labangon police station to undertake an inquiry and prosecute those involved in the fight.
According to Police Lieutenant Colonel Janette Rafter, the deputy city director for operation and current information officer of the CCPO, they would file a case for alarm and scandal against the trouble makers to give them a lesson and to avoid a repeat of the incident.
"It is always a strong instruction of our city director Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog nga kung kinsa man gani mohimog kasamok especially in public places ato gyud na nga kasohan og alarm and scandal," Rafter said.
(It is always a strong instruction of our city director Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog to charge those who create trouble with alarm and scandal).
Rafter, however, admitted that the number of personnel that they deployed were not enough to control the crowd who witnessed the Siomai Festival.
One of the men who can be seen taking part in the melee in the video is 21-year-old Angelo Lauza, who has already been taken into custody by the Labangon police.
Also seen in the video are Charles Lauza, 18, Arnel Lauza, of Sitio Manol, a man by the name of Paciao, and Penserim Modiquillo, of Sitio Manga, both from Barangay Tisa.
Aside from that brief incident and the traffic, the CCPO described the fiesta celebration as generally peaceful.(AYB, TPT)