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CEBU CITY, Philippines - Supporters and friends of the late Renerio ?Gogong? Arrogante III on Sunday expressed outrage at the removal of banners and streamers in the town of Daanbantayan, northern Cebu, calling for justice for the slain businessman?s death.
Rosanny Luche, spokesperson of Justice for Gogong Movement, said policemen and two people believed to be prisoners removed the streamers and posters Friday morning on the orders of the municipal government.
Daanbantayan Mayor Sun Shimura said he ordered the streamers removed due to the upcoming Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbo event of the Cebu provincial government on April 8 where more than 200 local and foreign tourists are expected to swing by the town and other northern Cebu municipalities.
Shimura said the streamers and posters may have a negative effect on the tourists because it may seem that the government was not doing anything with the case.
?If the tourists see those banners, they might say any person can just be killed here. They?ll never come back,? Shimura said in Cebuano.
He said the streamers and posters were put up in public places ? a violation of a municipal ordinance. He said he allowed the materials to be put up for a time as a show of respect to Arrogante?s family.
Rosanny Luche, spokesperson of ?Justice for Gogong Movement,? said the posters and streamers were placed in three areas around Barangay (village) Poblacion ? a private home, in the public market and the fisherman?s wharf near the municipal hall.
He said at least five streamers and an undetermined number of posters were removed since Friday. He questioned the materials' removal, saying these were not eyesores and did not obstruct traffic.
He said the materials were intended to make people aware of what was happening in the town.
The Justice for Gogong Movement, Luche said, was afraid that Arrogante?s death would be forgotten like many unresolved killings that did not get public attention because the victims were not famous.
The group also questioned the use of prisoners in the removal of the posters.
A trisikad (tricycle with sidecar) driver, who asked not to be named, said he recognized some of those who took down the streamers and posters as prisoners because he met them while he was in jail last year.
He said he was looking for passengers last Friday when he happened to come across the three policemen giving the prisoners orders.
?Priso caballero man sila kay makagawas-gawas man sa prisohan,? the trisikad driver said.
Senior Inspector Jovito Canlapan, chief of Daanbantayan police, said he ordered his men to carry out the mayor?s orders to remove illegally placed streamers and posters with the help of municipal employees, but no prisoners were involved.
He said the two ?prisoners? the witness saw may have also been policemen whom the witness mistook as inmates, or inmates who have been released.
?Daghan man amigo priso ang pulis na-dismiss na ang kaso mag-estambay sa jail, baka iyan ang nakita nila (Some policemen have prisoner friends whose cases were dismissed, but still spend time hanging around at the jail),? Canlapan said.
Canlapan also said that his men did not remove streamers that were related to Arrogante.
He said the posters that were removed were those with messages that have the word ?evil? in them, like one that read, ?Kon ang buotan nga katawhan di magpakabana, demonyo magpakabana? (If good men are not vigilant, then evil becomes vigilant).
On March 9, Arrogante was shot and killed inside a family-owned commercial complex in Daanbantayan, while he was talking to his wife Juliet and son Renerio IV.
No one has been arrested for the killing.
