Guided by an ‘angel’, cabbie chains self to Capitol flagpole

ERVIN GALLO OLIVEROS TIED HIMSELF CAPITOL FLAG POLE/OCT.06,2015:Ervin Gallo Oliveros talk to PO3 Eugene Amanence of Provicial Police detail at Capitol after he tied himself at Capitol flag pole.(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

Clad in an off-white polo, black slacks and open-toed sandals, a bearded 53-year-old man created a scene yesterday when he chained himself to the flagpole of the Capitol at past 9 a.m. yesterday.

Ervin Oliveros, a native of Tudela, Camotes Islands but has been living in Cebu City in the past four years, wanted former president Fidel V. Ramos, boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, Archbishop Socrates Villegas and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to go to the Capitol.

He surrendered to the police at around 10 a.m. and was brought to the Fuente Police Station.

Members of the Provincial Disaster Office used a metal cutter to set Oliveros free.

Oliveros said he was following orders from an angel.

“They say I’m just crazy or high on drugs but they don’t understand that this is what the angel had told me for the sake of our country,” Oliveros told Cebu Daily News.

He said the angel has been guiding him since 2008.

Oliveros looked like a regular Capitol visitor when he went to the flag pole in front of the main building facing Osmeña Boulevard past 9 a.m.

TOO LATE

It was too late when security guards assigned at the entrance noticed that he had chained himself to the pole, removed his sandals, and climbed on top of a platform.

Oliveros, a driver of CTC taxi for 10 days, said he can only be set free once he “feeds” his master.

“He feeds on my success. And I will be successful if I can get the first four people to come here,” he told reporters, catching the attention of security personnel, passersby and motorists.

The former taxi driver did not show signs of aggression. He calmly answered questions even from curious onlookers.

Oliveros said he was sent on a mission by “wisdom” to bring together seven “pillars” that will save the Philippines from ruin, four of whom he named.

DESCRIPTION

He described the first pillar as the country’s former president who would always carry a stick of tobacco with him.

Reporters asked if it was former president Fidel Ramos. He said yes.

Oliveros said he was angry at the second “pillar,” the “Pambansang Kamao,” but said it is not his will that will prevail but “wisdom’s.”

Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), was the third pillar. He was described as “the priest who called for change in the country through an Oratio Imperata.”

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was the fourth pillar, described by Oliveros as the “mayor of the city with fruits that have thorns.”

For almost an hour, Oliveros sat on top of the pole’s platform, answering questions and negotiating with Capitol officials.

Oliveros said he is not a pastor. As a Roman Catholic, he said he listens to what the angel tells him to do.

He said the angel failed to accompany him.

“I expected they could not come because of the traffic but they could have texted me to notify,” he said.

INSTRUCTIONS

Oliveros narrated that it was Monday morning when the angel led him to a set of chain and lock. At past 3 a.m. yesterday, he claimed to have been awakened by the angel, telling him to jog and prepare himself for what he was going to do for the day.

Oliveros has been staying in barangay Mambaling for four years.

He said he left his family in General Santos after hearing the voice of an angel for the first time in 2008.

“I was involved in illegal numbers game operated by my brother in Davao. We were arguing with my wife when the angel talked to me asking me to observe the proper way of living,” said Oliveros.

Leaving his wife and five kids, he went to Davao to drive a taxi for a living. He arrived in Cebu in 2011 to take care of a lot owned by his brother.

“It’s been 10 days since the angel told me to stop driving for no apparent reason. Three days after that, he told me to walk from Plaza Independencia to Capitol grounds everyday for seven days,” said Oliveros.

Police said if there is a complainant, Oliveros will be charged for unjust vexation.

Oliveros said he decided to grow his beard for the safety of his countrymen.

“I have tried to cut it before but the angel showed me signs of unimaginable destruction if ever I do,” said Oliveros.