spot_img
28.4 C
Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

NBI tapped to hunt down fugitive Ilocos Sur mayor

- Advertisement -

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has directed the National Bureau of Investigation to hunt down a town mayor in Ilocos Sur who was ordered arrested by a local court for criminal cases over the padlocking of a local beach resort with its operator and four-year-old son trapped inside.

Guevarra said NBI agents had joined the manhunt operations against Cabugao Mayor Josh Edward Cobangbang after the provincial office of the Philippine National Police failed to serve the warrant of arrest issued against the mayor last week for non-bailable case of serious illegal detention and grave coercion recently filed by the Department of Justice.

“The NBI has tapped teams of agents to arrest Mayor Cobangbang pursuant to the warrant issued by the RTC,” the DOJ chief said, referring to the order by Cabugao Regional Trial Court Branch 24 Judge Raphiel Alzate.

According to Guevarra, the prosecutors handling the case would also seek issuance of a hold departure order against the fugitive mayor to prevent him from possibly leaving the country and evading prosecution.

- Advertisement -

“The issuance of an HDO by the RTC is a matter of course upon motion if the trial prosecutors, especially since the warrant of arrest could not be served upon the accused,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Deogracias Jose Victorino Savellano has assumed the top office in the municipal hall due to the mayor’s indictment and absence.

The regional office of the Department of Interior and Local Government has named Savellano as “acting mayor” of Cabugao town.

“As the elected vice mayor, you can assume the office of the mayor of Cabuago, Ilocos Sur in a temporary capacity and perform the duties thereof,” read an order signed by DILG Region I Director James Fadrilan last Feb.22, a copy of which was furnished to the DOJ.

The DILG official cited the rule where the vice mayor takes over the duties of a mayor who is unable to perform duties due to evasion of arrest and prosecution in a criminal case.

The 24-year-old Cobangbang and 18 others were ordered arrested by the RTC after they were indicted by DOJ for serious illegal detention and grave coercion.

The RTC issued the orders after upholding the finding of probable cause by the DOJ in the complaint filed by Virginia Ong stemming from the closure of the local government-owned Cabugao Beach Resort in 2017.

The DOJ granted the petition for review filed by Ong and reversed the April 23, 2018 resolution of the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office that dismissed the charges for lack of probable cause.

It reinstated the original resolution in January last year and the findings of probable cause by investigating Senior Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Adriano Cabida, which the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office reversed upon appeal by Cobangbang.

The DOJ held that elements of serious illegal detention were present in this case – a private individual is detained without lawful basis and that the detention was committed by public authority and the detainees were a woman and a minor. 

The said offense is non-bailable.

The DOJ held that the mayor and his men are criminally liable under Articles 267 and 286 of the Revised Penal Code over the closure of CBR on Aug. 24, 2017 by virtue of a municipal ordinance that only authorized the local executive to negotiate with Ong for resolution of the dispute on the ownership of the resort.

It stressed that Ong, her son and some of her employees were forced to stay in the padlocked resort until the following day until their lawyer and the police arrived.

The DOJ stressed that respondents were “indeed participating and cooperating in the concerted effort to close CBR and to wrestle possession thereof from appellant and her companions.”

The DOJ pointed out that the ordinance, which only authorized the mayor to negotiate and enter into a contract of lease with the qualified lessee, cannot be basis to padlock the resort and detain Ong inside. 

It explained that Ong was still in possession of the resort at the time of the incident “because there was no competent court order for her ejectment.”

Prior to the incident, the mayor demanded Ong and her employees to leave the CBR’s premises. 

But the latter refused the leave the resort, saying her lease contract was for a period of 20 years or until 2025. 

Record showed that Ong took over the CBR after the previous operator, with whom she was an industrial partner, filed a quit claim in 2016. 

She continued paying the monthly rental, but the mayor objected to it and prompted the local government to pass a municipal ordinance to allow a new investor.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles