Grave threat, abuse of authority complaint against Lapu-Lapu bet Chan filed at Ombud
Pajo barangay captain and Lapu-Lapu City mayoralty aspirant Junard “Ahong” Chan. CDN Digital photo | Futch Anthony Inso
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A spat over the posting of campaign posters between supporters of rival political parties in Lapu-Lapu City escalated into the filing of harassment and several other complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman against Pajo Barangay Captain and Mayoralty aspirant Junard “Ahong” Chan.
On Friday, May 3, at 9:41 a.m., Lawyer Zandro Ronnie Oriol, legal counsel of the four complainants under the Team Deretso of the Radaza camp, submitted the complaint against Chan.
Oriol said that the complaint against Chan included criminal charges of robbery, grave threats and grave coercion and administrative cases of oppression, grave misconduct and abuse of authority.
Oriol is representing the four Team Deretso supporters namely: Nelson Igot, 54, Marcos Pulvera, 73, Danilo Dulce, 60, and Robert Almeñana, 44.
“I feel that there is a need to substantiate and file this case to prove, there has been times away from the eyes of media, that candidate for Mayor Ahong Chan, has been abusive to ordinary voters of Lapu-lapu,” Oriol said.
The complaint stemmed from an incident last April 12, where the two supporters, who were then posting posters of the Team Deretso candidates along Sitio Mustang, Barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City were allegedly harassed by supporters of the rival political group, Team Libre, which is led by Chan.
Two other Team Deretso supporters, Pulvera and Igot, passed by when they saw the confrontation and tried to intervene to stop the argument and avoid violence.
In his affidavit, Pulvera said he saw supporters of Team Libre under Chan allegedly harassing Team Deretso volunteers Dulce and Almeñana.
Pulvera said that the Team Libre supporters made up of six men led allegedly by two know bodyguards of Chan — Jojo Daquis and Allan Ramirez — were telling the Team Deretso supporters to remove their posters which were allegedly covering the Team Libre posters.
After sensing that the argument had already heated up, Pulvera interrupted and pleaded to one of Chan’s bodyguard (Jojo Daquis) to calm down and avoid violence and intimidation to anybody but their argument became worse.
Daquis, allegedly, even threatened Pulvera that he would kick him if they would not remove the posters of Team Deretso.
Then Chan allegedly arrived in his motorcycle and he was accompanied by several riders.
Chan allegedly also confronted them.
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“Ahong personally threatened and forcibly demanded us to remove the Team Deretso posters while his bodyguards surrounded us. It was a terrifying sight having a mayoralty candidate together with his bodyguards personally threatening us and yelled at us,” said Igot, who was accompanying Pulvera when they passed by Sitio Mustang.
At that moment, Igot brought out his cellphone and begun recording the whole incident.
Chan noticed him taking the video and asked him to stop.
When Igot did not stop, Chan allegedly approached him and asked him to hand over his phone. When he still refused, Chan allegedly forcibly took his cellphone, which Igot allegedly placed in his pocket, deleted the video of the confrontation and threw the cellphone back to him.
Igot said it was then that Chan and his group hurriedly left the area.
On April 14, 2019, Igot decided to report the incident at the Police Station 5, Lapu-Lapu City.
Oriol added that they have decided to file the case at the Office of the Ombudsman, in order to avoid suspicion.
He said that they had an option to file the complaint before the City Council.
But Chan vehemently denied the allegation.
“Puros rana mugna-mugna ilang istorya. Mosulti lang unta sila kun unsay tinood. Kay ang tinood, mogawas man gyud na. Sila maoy dunay nakasala. Kay maporma kaha siya ug iyang kaugalingon ug aktuhan siya’s mga tawo nga ang among posters ilang gipangtabunan,” Chan said.
He admitted that he was around when the incident happened, but denied that they had a confrontation with Igot.
“Wala mi mag-confront, nagtan-aw rako nila unsay gibuhat. Ang ako nga dili sila magkagubot. Ang security maoy suko kaayo. Dili man pod siya maoy gika-kumprontasi sa akong security,” he added.
Chan also denied taking the cellphone of Igot.
“Way problema, ako na silang atubangon,” he said, adding that he will also be filing around ten complaints against the camp of Team Deretso before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“Kadto ning mga harassment nga nahitabo (sa akong mga supporters),” Chan added.
When asked about the filing of a complaint against him at the Office of the Visayas Ombudsman, Chan said he would wait for a copy of the complaint and consult their lawyer since this was a legal matter./dbs
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