Mother of teen linked to drug trade insists her son is innocent
The former wife of slain Jovilio Franza, a suspected drug pusher and gun-for-hire operating in southern Cebu, spoke out yesterday, insisting that their son, an alleged drug aide, is innocent.
“Walay' sala akong anak. Inosente siya,” the mother, who requested anonymity, told The FREEMAN.
The 17-year-old son was reportedly assisting his father, Franza, in selling drugs.
Franza's son and his live-in partner Evangeline Briones have been charged before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor's Office last Thursday for violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act 2002. Charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives were also filed against Briones.
Briones and her stepson were reportedly with Franza when the buy-bust was staged in Sito Bacay, Barangay Tulay in Minglanilla town last Monday, resulting in a shootout.
During the operation, Police Officer 2 Evie Espina posed as a buyer of illegal drugs and transacted with Franza. But when the latter sensed he was selling to a police decoy, he ran towards a residential area and reportedly opened fire first at the chasing policemen.
The police retaliated and hit Franza in the process. But during the exchange of gunfire, Espina was hit in the head when he peeked at the suspect from a concrete wall where he was taking cover. Both of them died.
Briones and her stepson, however, managed to escape from the midst of the chase.
But the biological mother said the information was a hoax and that her son, a high school student, was in school attending his classes at the time of the buy-bust operation.
“Didto na siya sa eskwelahan, nag-eskwela siya anang hitaboa,” she said while showing his son's attendance records to The FREEMAN.
She said her son has never dipped his hands in his father's illegal activities.
“Parte anang drugs, wala gyud na akong anak, wala siya ni-eskapo ana nga time kay ni-eskwela man siya. Nageskwela man siya og tarong,” she said.
“Pagkahibaw niya nga iyang papa mao na nahitabo, niadto siya sa hospital iyang gitan-aw unsa nahitabo, iya gigakos iya papa, kato nga time na,” she added.
She said her son's dream is to become a policeman and to serve and protect the country.
She said it was painful for her as a mother to see her son suffer from a crime he did not commit. “Mag-unsa na lang iya ugma, naa naman siya record, gusto niya wala na siya record kay gusto siya moeskwela,” she said.
She was separated for 14 years from Franza and is now living in Bohol province. Her son, on the other hand, is living with her ex-husband.
CHARGED
Meanwhile, the Cebu City Prosecutor's Office has indicted a couple before the court for alleged illegal drug sale and possession, both violations of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Prosecutor III Venice Balansag held spouses Perla, 41, and Reynaldo Abella, 51, residents of A. Lopez Street in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City, for trial after finding probable cause for violating Section 11, Article II of RA 9165.