CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is willing to provide legal assistance to the jail guard who shot two men trying to sneak in boxes of cigarettes into the Cebu City Jail on Tuesday.
Osmeña said that Jail Officer 1 Myron Garcia, who shot dead 19-year-old Edilbert Edlisan and wounded 23-year-old Arnel Canduroy, was only doing his job in preventing contrabands from getting inside the penitentiary.
“He’s just doing his job. If somebody would want to bring in cigarette, then what, you will just look? If you find him guilty of something, no one would want to be a guard. I will do what I can to help him,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña said he is doing this to tell the city’s law enforcers that he is willing to support them as long as they are performing their duties well.
“That has always been my policy… If he asks for assistance I will give it to him. People are trying to do their jobs, you will have to tell them that as long as you are doing your job, we will support you,” the mayor said.
Osmeña said that it would discourage law enforcers if Garcia would be indicted for performing his duties.
However, Osmeña said that he will not give Garcia the P50,000 cash reward which he usually gives to policemen who gun down criminals since he is “not close with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).”
Cebu City Jail is under the management of BJMP.
Meanwhile, the Cebu City Police Office – Investigation and Detective Management Branch (CCPO-IDMB) will withdraw their investigation over the incident.
Supt. Ryan Devaras, IDMB chief, said that based on their initial investigation, it was found out that the operation which killed Edlisan and wounded his companion was a legitimate one.
“If someone will file a complaint, then we will proceed with the investigation. As of now (Wednesday), we did not receive any,” said Devaras.
The BJMP is also conducting a separate investigation.
BJMP-7 Director Chief Supt. Arnold Buenacosa assured that they will be fair in their investigation.
BJMP-7 relieved Garcia from his post in Cebu City Jail. He will be reporting to the regional office on a floating status.
Edwin Edlisan, the father of Edilbert, said that their family is yet to decide whether to file a case against Garcia or not.
Edwin said that he had been warning his son not to associate with individuals with questionable characters.