Loy Madrigal demonstrate how he was shot by Medellin Mayor Ricky Ramirez damaging his car at the pension house in Bogo City. (CDNPHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
Criminal charges for attempted murder and violation of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) gun ban were filed Friday against Medellin Mayor Ricardo Ramirez as a result of his altercation with former Capitol chief security officer Loy Anthony Madrigal.
With the filing of the charges before the prosecutor’s office in Bogo City at past 4 p.m. yesterday, Bogo City deputy police chief SP04 Reynaldo Rosaceña said they called off the manhunt against the mayor.
Cebu Provincial Police Office director Senior Supt. Clifford Gairanod said a manhunt was launched against Ramirez after he allegedly shot at Madrigal. The former Capitol security officer was not hit, but the bullet punched a hole on his vehicle.
Gairanod said their initial investigation showed Ramirez and Madrigal fought while in the parking area of a pension house in Taytayan, Bogo on Friday morning.
Ramirez allegedly threw the first punch. Madrigal was walking towards his vehicle when Ramirez allegedly fired a shot at him.
The Medellin mayor posted the incident on his Facebook account, claiming he was mauled by Madrigal. He also posted photos showing injuries in his right eye.
But Ramirez later learned that a manhunt had been launched against him when he asked the Medellin police chief to see him in his office so he could report the incident.
Gairanod said the police were just doing their job. They were not being used by any politician, he added.
Madrigal, for his part, admitted that he hit Ramirez, but said it had nothing to do with politics.
The conflict between Ramirez and Madrigal goes back a long way.
“It is a matter of record that I was responsible for Loy Madrigal’s termination of his services at the Capitol and I had long ago been exposing his illegal activities particularly in my town of Medellin,” the mayor stated.
Ramirez is seeking a seat in the municipal council under One Cebu.