ERMITA CREW FACES PROBE ON SHOOTING
SUSPECT TRIED TO FLEE IN HANDCUFFS?
A theft suspect died by gunfire in Barangay Ermita, Cehu City past midnight Tuesday while allegedly trying to escape from tanods who were escorting him to the Carbon Police Station.
The death of Lendon Abadinas prompted Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to comment on the “questionable character” of some of Ermita’s tanods. However, he has no qualms about tanods, in general, bearing firearms.
The Commission on Human Rights 7 will also investigate the fatal shooting, an official confirmed.
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will investigate Barangay Ermita for its allegedly illegal detention of persons caught in their area by barangay tanods.
This, after a theft suspect was shot and killed by a barangay tanod past midnight Tuesday, after the man allegedly tried to escape.
“They should be turned over to the police immediately. If the time of the turnover period has lapsed, the tanods can be charged with illegal detention for that,” CCPO Director Joel Doria said.
Junnel Sanchez, 31, a barangay tanod of Ermita, surrendered to Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak and homicide investigators yesterday morning.
It was Sanchez who shot and killed Lendon Abadinas, when the latter allegedly tried to escape even while he was handcuffed.
The death of Abadinas also prompted the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) 7 to plan for an investigation on the tanods of Barangay Ermita.
TOMAS OSMEÑA
Cebu City Mayor Leo Villarino, CHR 7 chief investigator, said that even though barangay tanods are considered civilian law enforcers, they should also observe human rights practices, especially the rights of those apprehended in their patrols.
Interviewed separately, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he has no qualms about tanods carrying firearms, except for those “questionable characters” in Ermita.
“So far, we know that the victim has no record of criminality. It’s not known whether he has a reputation for that. The integrity of tanods in Ermita is questionable. They’re behaving like extortionists, based on records, that’s why I cancelled their allowances,” he said.
Last August, Osmeña stopped City Hall’s allowances for 62 barangay workers in Ermita for being hostile toward the City Government. Of that number, around 42 are tanods.
Sanchez and two other tanods of Barangay Ermita were allegedly on their way to turn Abadinas to the Carbon Police Station when the man tried to run.
“He resisted and during the struggle, I picked up my gun. A shot rang out and I don’t know where I hit him. I really had no intention of killing him,” Sanchez told reporters.
He admitted that his gun was not licensed.
Abadinas managed to run a
The integrity of tanods in Ermita is questionable.
few steps away but later fell about a hundred meters away from the Carbon Police Station.
Another tanod, Jerome Miral, 31, went to the Homicide Section of the CCPO yesterday afternoon to clear his name.
But investigators arrested him after two witnesses, reportedly detainees in the barangay, identified him as the one who punched Abadinas and taped his mouth.
“He claimed that he was the only one who caught the victim in a citizen’s arrest and left the latter in the detention cell. But our witnesses said that he was present prior to the incident and was supposed to turn the victim over to Sanchez to be brought to the Carbon Police Station,” SPO1 Winston Ybañez of the Homicide Section said.
Miral, in an interview, denied he knew about the shooting.
“I went home to sleep because I was tired,” Miral said.
However, a witness ( name withheld) said that Miral punched Abadinas.
“The victim, contrary to what they said that he kept on making noise, was silent. He was not eating properly and was holding his side, which had been hurt when Miral punched him,” he said.
Two of the witnesses claimed that they were detained since Saturday and Sunday in the barangay. Their offenses were physical injuries and sniffing rugby, they alleged, but no cases were filed against them.
Doria said that he was thankful for the close coordination with the barangays but warned against tanods bringing firearms with them. /