Gwen 'stalker' nabbed

Police yesterday arrested and briefly detained a man believed to have stalked Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on at least two occasions but later released him without charges.

The man, identified as Romeo Pelayo Ariso, was arrested by PO1 Winston Ybanez of the Regional Mobile Group who was in civilian clothes at the time, as he got down from a bus in Tabuelan, about an hour before Garcia was scheduled to arrive to inaugurate newly-finished barangay road projects.

Found in Ariso's possession was a map of Cebu with the town of Tabuelan marked in red ink and an itinerary of the visit of the governor, who was to be accompanied by her brother, Capitol consultant Pablo John Garcia and Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez.

This promptly raised suspicions he was a member of the communist New People's Army and that the rebels were planning to attack the town at the time of the governor's visit. However, the suspicions could not be confirmed and Ariso had to be released when no further reason to hold him could be found.

Ariso had previously been arrested and held for questioning for " acting suspiciously " when the governor visited Malapascua Island last April 21.

Cebu Provincial Police director Vicente Loot said there has been information that the governor's security is at " high risk " and that while the information was raw and unverified, it was something that could not be taken for granted since the governor is a " highly mobile person. "

Garcia has recently been visiting towns in the fourth district, an area controlled by her political rivals.

But with no specific threats to the safety of the governor, Loot said all that can be done at the moment is simply to augment her security.

It was not clear what drove Ybanez to arrest Ariso other than that the policeman said the man had been behaving quite oddly.

On interrogation, Ariso said he merely copied the governor's itinerary on a piece of paper from news he heard said on radio.

The governor herself was unfazed by the incident.

" I cannot stop my work, you know, confine myself to the four safe walls of my office just because there is a stalker or whatever it is. I have a job to do and i'll perform it to the best way I know how, " she said.

" I define my work as being with the people. I need to go to the towns to be with the people and see for myself the situation there. And I will continue to do so, " Garcia said.

The governor said it is up to the police and the military to take care of her security. - Norvie S. Misa and Cristina C. Birondo