Cebu City councilor convicted

CEBU CITY — The municipal trial court found yesterday Councilor Ernesto Elizondo guilty of mauling and threatening a dockhand in 1998 and sentenced him to four years in prison.

Elizondo, a one-time amateur boxer, maintained his innocence throughout the two-year trial, but Judge Rosabella Tormis, in an eight-page decision, said the prosecution had proved his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Vicente Navares, the man Elizondo mauled and threatened to finish off, worked as a checker at Cebu Integrated Arrastre, a stevedoring firm owned by Elizondo.

On July 27, 1998, Elizondo allegedly got angry at Navares on learning a ship has docked without a permit.

Navares claimed Elizondo beat him up and threatened to finish him off if he came back after fleeing the angry city official.

Navares sued Elizondo for serious physical injuries, at the time, newly elected to the city council, but later withdrew the charges after having been allegedly intimidated and paid off by Elizondo’s men.

But the prosecutor’s office reopened the case when the mother of Navares insisted in pursuing the case.

Tormis said Navares’ detailed account of the incident should be considered more credible than Elizondo’s simple denial of the crime.

Tormis also said the court found the testimony of prosecution witness Lumen Limbaga to be credible, considering that she had nothing to gain by fabricating her story.

Limbaga, a vendor who runs a small store at Pier 4, testified having seen Elizondo first shout at Navares and then grabbing him by the collar and beating him up.

Elizondo has 15 days to appeal the decision. Failing that, the decision is considered final, said Pedro Rosito, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu City chapter president. — Freeman News Services