CEBU CITY, Philippines — The late sorry won’t cut it.
This was the reply of Police Lieutenant Eden Rex Baguio, Sta. Fe Police Station chief, to the two brothers, who were arrested after they challenged two policemen to a fistfight when the law enforcers called their attention and asked the brothers to lower the volume of their sound system at past 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 24, in Barangay Maricaban, Sta. Fe town in Bantayan Island in northern Cebu.
Despite their apology today, June 25, Baguio said a direct assault complaint against the siblings, Isidore, 31, and James Quinatadcan, 24, was still filed at the Bantayan Municipal Trial Court.
“Ang duha naa sa custodial facility. Gusto unta mangayo og pasaylo. Ingun ko dapat gabie unta na ninyo gibuhat. Ang pagmahay ba, ulahi na,” he said.
( The two are now in our custodial facility. They tried to apologize for last night’s incident, but I told them, you should have done that last night. Regrets for what you did would always come at the end.)
Baguio said that two policemen respectfully told the two brothers, who were then having a drinking spree and a karaoke session at their home, to lower the volume of their sound system because their neighbors had complained about the noise it caused.
Instead of complying with the policemen’s order, an allegedly drunk Isidore, who is a construction worker, got angry and allegedly asked one of the policemen to remove his uniform and then challenged him to a fistfight.
“Hubo-a na inyohang uniform sir kay makigsukmagay (ko),” Isidore told the police.
(You remove your uniform. Let’s just have a fistfight.)
James, who was also a bit tipsy at that point, threw a punch at one of the policemen.
The policemen subdued both brothers, arrested them and brought them to the Sta. Fe Police Station where they were detained.
Baguio said that if we let these brothers off the hook for their late apology, then it might be worse when another incident would occur because the other violators might not respect policemen or barangay tanods due to us letting these brothers get off easy.
“Kung naa na ang atoang person of authority, mapa police or matanod ba na sila, ato gyud na hatagan og respeto,” Baguio said.
(If there is a person of authority whether it be a policeman or a barangay tanod, then we should respect them.)
“Basta badlungon gali ta, tuo na lang ta kay naa man sab tay ordinansa nga gipasunod. Para man gud nis ilahang tanan,” he said.
(And if you are a toughie or a naughty person, then you just obey the policeman because we have an ordinance to implement. Anyway, it is also for everybody.)
“Pareha ana ron ug wa na nato sila badlunga, possible nga ang silingan na ilang makontra. So mas mudaghan na ang problema, mag connect-connect na,” he said.
(Like this incident, if we did not call their attention, then it would be possible that their neighbors would be their enemy. So, the problem would become bigger.)
“Maghunahuna jod sa makadaghan, usa ta musukol sa otoridad kay kami mismo di sab mi ganahan mutunob og tawo,”he said.
(Always think many times, before you resist authority because we, ourselves, we do not like to look down on a person or step on a person’s rights.)
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