Armed intruders ‘ransack’ Apas hall

ARMED men allegedly ransacked the Apas Barangay Hall in Cebu Citylast Monday afternoon, May 13.

Freddie Velasco, barangay disaster head, said he was in the command center located on the second floor of the building monitoring the midterm elections when he heard a commotion outside. Then their office door was kicked open and two armed men with their faces covered barged inside.

“The intruders told us to lie down, then asked us ‘where the money was’?” Velasco said in Cebuano.

Velasco said the armed men rummaged through their desks, raided their stocks for the ambulance and opened their computer and fire extinguisher box.

He said the intruders only stopped after he told them they did not have any money and that they were non-partisan. However, the men took his phone and the phones of two staff members, he said.

Velasco said he later found out that before the intruders entered his office, they harassed the barangay secretary and the tanods on duty. This one tanod to leap out of the building. He was injured in the head and was brought to the hospital.

Velasco said the armed men were looking for Barangay Captain Virgilio Cabigon, but the latter had gone out.

Aside from wearing masks, the armed men wore black long sleeves and what looked like a bulletproof vests, Velasco said. They arrived and left on board a white van, he added.

Velasco said there were five men: four were armed, while one served as their lookout.

SunStar Cebu tried to interview the barangay secretary but he declined.

Velasco said their barangay did not receive any threats prior to the incident. Last Sunday night, May 12, they saw 14 men on board seven motorcycles stop outside the barangay hall.

“We ignored them because they didn’t do anything, but we thought of what happened in the mountain barangays,” Velasco said in Cebuano.

Velasco believed the incident was election-related since the men were looking for money.

Personnel from the Cebu City Intelligence Branch went to the barangay hall to investigate.

Velasco hoped police would get to the bottom of things as soon as possible.