BACOLOD City – A fish ball vendor plans filing charges against Mayor Richard Jaojoco of Toboso, Negros Occidental. He claimed he and his 17-year-old friend were mauled.
The 23-year-old Marjohn Canizares of Barangay Poblacion, Toboso complained to the municipal police station that two armed men picked them up around 3 a.m. on Sept. 6.
The men, who Canizares claimed were bodyguards of Jaojoco, forcibly brought them to the house of a certain Tatet Tisay.
Canizares named the two men as Dodong Tiham and Police Officer 2 Orvil Leyte.
At Tisay’s house, if the vendor were to be believed, Jaojoco slapped, punched and hit him with a plastic chair.
Municipal police station commander Chief Inspector Joery Puerto, however, said there was “no truth” in Canizares’ statement.
It was only meant to “destroy Jaojoco,” Puerto added.
According to the Toboso police chief, Jaojoco only summoned Canizares’ due to an Aug. 25 indiscriminate firing incident in the town. Canizares was allegedly responsible for such.
Canizares initially denied the allegation. But on Sept. 7 he admitted firing a homemade gun which he surrendered to the police, said Puerto.
Jaojoco denied beating up Canizares, adding he was “surprised” about it.
The mayor said “several fabricated stories” were being made to destroy him, especially now that election is approaching./PN
