Drugs, motel trouble lands man in jail

CEBU, Philippines - The son of a former local taxi company owner was arrested after destroying items in a motel and attacking motel personnel. 

Believed to be high on drugs, Avelino de la Torre Rosal, of legal age, and a resident Nivel Hills, barangay Lahug, Cebu City, was arrested by elements of the Mobile Patrol Group yesterday morning inside a motel located along Gen. Maxilom Ave at around 10:20 a.m.

Several empty sachets believed to have contained shabu were seized by the police from the room rented by the suspect. The motel management fined Rosal P5,000 for the damage incurred inside the room he rented during his stay.

Rosal was arrested after motel Security Guard Joy Bontuyan sought police assistance after the suspect threw a heater at him after he inquired if Rosal wanted to extend his stay.

The suspect reportedly checked-in at around 3 a.m. together with an unknown female companion who already left when the police arrived.

Before Bontuyan, several other motel employees claimed to have also been verbally harassed by the suspect when they asked if he wanted to extend his stay. This prompted the motel management to send Bontuyan at around 6 a.m.

Buntoyan said he knocked at the suspect’s room several times before Rosal opened the door and threw the room’s heater at him which he managed to dodge. He then called for police assistance.

A few minutes later, four MPG patrol cars arrived and surrounded Rosal’s room.The police tried to convince the suspect to get out of his room but they failed.

With the help of the motel management, the police tried to open the victim’s room using a spare key, but they failed because the door was double locked from the inside.

Left with no other recourse but use force, PO2 Noel Regasajo, with the presence of the motel’s management, kicked open the suspect’s door. A group of policemen then stormed inside the room.

SPO2 Rene Sultap told The FREEMAN that when they entered the suspect room, Rosal attacked one of them using a shower head from the motel’s comfort room.

Sultap said they managed to disarm the suspect who continued to resist arrest and denied giving his real name to the police.

Recovered from Rosal’s possession was a black wallet containing P18,020 cash which the suspect claimed to be his.

But the police did not immediately believe the suspect after an identification card was recovered insider the wallet with the name of Avelino Rosal III of Bato, Leyte.

The police only managed to confirm his real name after a Temporary Operator’s Permit for a traffic violation issued at 2:40 a.m. yesterday, bearing his name, was recovered from his wallet.

A relative of the suspect, who requested anonymity, told the police that Rosal is the son of the former owner of the Rosal Taxicabs based in the city.

The police are preparing charges against the suspect for malicious mischief and illegal possession of drug paraphernalia. He is currently detained at the Cebu City Police Office stockade.  (FREEMAN)