Armed men raise tension in 5 Cebu towns

CEBU — Tension rose in five Cebu towns on the eve of yesterday’s elections when armed men, initially believed to be goons hired by certain politicians, were reported to be roaming around.

In Sta. Fe town, reports said the house of Lakas mayoralty candidate Jose Espinosa was surrounded since Saturday morning by 40 men armed with short and long firearms.

Norberto Luna, Espinosa’s counsel, alleged in an interview on radio station dyAB that the town police chief, Ernesto Ynot, and the augmentation force, led by Inspector Claro Benatiro, did not bother to check and disarm those men.

Luna alleged that the armed men belonged to Espinosa’s opponent, Roger Ilustrisimo, and that the police were allied with Roger’s father, former mayor Rogelio Ilustrisimo.

Ynot, however, denied the allegations, saying the armed men referred to by Luna were uniformed policemen manning a Comelec checkpoint in the area.

Espinosa further complained why the men allegedly entered and search his house.

But the group, led by Inspector Teofilo Siclot, said they were there in the area only to prevent violence in connection with a land dispute.

But Ilustrisimo counter-charged that Espinosa’s armed men accosted his youth leaders on their way to his house to get food.

Espinosa, however, said the armed men Ilustrisimo was referring to were actually provincial policemen, led by PO3 Nestor Canlubo, who were assigned to provide him security.

He said the policemen merely conducted a routine check of his rival’s youth leaders.

In Madridejos town, officials of Barangay Malabago turned over to the police four firearms — two caliber .38 revolvers and two caliber .357 revolvers — which they reportedly seized from tanods.

At about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, gunshots were heard in Malabago and nearby Barangay Pili.

PO3 Manolo Jo also said they received word from Barangay Malabago chairman Bernabe Compra that armed men wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts were operating a checkpoint in their area.

When policeman confronted the men, the latter claimed that they were soldiers. But when they were about to be frisked, they boarded a white L-300 van with license plate PGC-874.

The armed men were allegedly led by a certain Superintendent Elmedio Lagra, of the Regional Intelligence Office.

Lagra would later say that he and his men were just responding to a report about a shooting in Malabago.

In Pilar town on Camotes Island, Barangay Dapdap chairman Bonifacio Borinaga complained that five policemen, who belonged to the provincial augmentation force, allegedly harassed his brother, Wilfredo Borinaga, and members of a religious group.

But the policemen claimed they just checked on the group which was initially suspected to be armed.

Bonifacio said Wilfredo, the spiritual leader of the group, had just arrived from Baybay, Leyte and was not armed.

Bonifacio alleged though that the policemen aimed their guns at Wilfredo and his group while they were frisking them. — Freeman News Service