Tomas hands over P20K cash to cop

Cebu City Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña personally handed P20,000 cash to PO3 Julius Regis who shot two robbery suspects last Tuesday.

Regis was accompanied by Supt. Michael Bastes, chief of the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), when he went to Osmeña’s home to receive the P20,000 on Thursday afernoon.

In an interview, Regis got emotional when asked how he felt about the cash reward as well as the details on his response to last Tuesday’s jeepney heist. He was already off-duty when it happened.

“Actually, wala man ko nag-after sa reward. Ang akoa, tabang lang. Naluoy kos tiguwang (I’m not after the reward. I just wanted to help. I felt bad for the old woman),” he told reporters while crying.

He then refused to answer more questions and just left immediately. Bastes said he’s happy that one of his men did his job when when he wasn’t on duty at that time. He encouraged other policemen to also do their jobs.

Osmeña said he decided to double the reward for Regis since he was off-duty during the incident.

His earlier pronouncement was to give P50,000 to policemen who could legally kill criminals caught in the act.

But if they’re only injured, he said policemen will only get P5,000. Regis was supposed to only get P10,000 for the two injured suspects, but since this was doubled by Osmeña, he received P20,000.

“It turned out, injured lang diay. Naka-save kog kwarta. Pero di na mao akong tuyo. Akong tuyo nga ipakita sa mga badlungon nga bantay lang diha (I saved money. But that’s not my intention. My intention was to show to the hardened criminals to watch out),” Osmeña said in a press conference.

He also said that even civilians will be rewarded if they are able to prevent crime and shoot criminals legally.

He still won’t say where the money for the rewards are sourced from. He just said he can guarantee that it does not come from government funds./Reporter Jose Santino S. Bunachita

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