No bail recommended for ex-mayor

Police Regional Director Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino listens to former Medellin mayor and now incumbent Councilor Ricky Ramirez explain the cache of firearms found inside his house in the northern Cebu town following Ramirez’s arrest last Wednesday.
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

THE Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office recommended no bail for the former mayor of Medellin town, Ricardo “Ricky” Ramirez, following his arrest last Wednesday over gun possession charges.

Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Jane Petralba told Cebu Daily News that illegal possession of at least three guns constitutes a non-bailable offense.
Ramirez, now a councilor of Medellin, was arrested after eight unlicensed firearms were confiscated in a raid conducted by police authorities at his house in Sitio Lucha, Barangay Caputatan Sur.

The weapons consisted of two M16 rifles, a .22 caliber rifle with telescope, a .30 caliber rifle, a .45 caliber gun, a 9 mm pistol and two air guns.

Formal complaints were elevated to the trial court in Bogo City at past 2 p.m., Friday, after Ramirez decided to waive his right to file a counter-affidavit.

In a text message to CDN, Ramirez’s legal counsel, lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna, said that they will instead file a motion to quash the search warrant issued by Talisay City Executive Judge Jacinto Fajardo Jr.

“This is the best defense we can have because if approved, it may move to render the object evidence recovered inadmissible in court,” his text message read.

During the raid, authorities from the Provincial Intelligence Branch also confiscated drug paraphernalia in a room inside Ramirez’s house. Ramirez denied owning the drug paraphernalia but admitted to having once been a drug user “long time ago.”

This prompted police regional director Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino to recommend that the suspect undergo a drug test to prove his claims that he was no longer into illegal drugs.

Dela Cerna, however, said his client had the option not to heed the police advice.

“It is the right of Mayor Ramirez not to undergo drug test as advised,” he said.

Upon learning of Ramirez’s decision not to undergo drug testing, Espino said: “It is his right to refuse to be drug tested and it will be noted in the report from PNP Crime Laboratory. It will be to his advantage if he undergoes and turns out negative.”