Property theft, damages eyed; priority services under review

A day after its resolution, charges are being readied against both the municipal police and four followers of Mayor-elect Joel Quiño in relation to last Wednesday’s municipal hall takeover in Compostela town, northern Cebu.

Senior Insp. Rodrigo Giangan, Compostela municipal police chief, said criminal charges may be filed against the four identified Quiño supporters who broke the padlocks of the municipal hall building’s doors and ransacked some of the rooms.

In yesterday’s interview, Giangan identified the four as 36-year-old Edgar Bataluna Pasaol, 44-year-old Eddie Son Soroño, 28-year-old Junrey Peñas Lucero (all from barangay Bagalnga) and 36-year-old Dennis Quiros of barangay Magay.

Charges of malicious mischief through destruction of government property and theft are being considered against the perpetrators.

Giangan said their investigation will ferret out other people who have broken into the municipal hall building.

Giangan said he will wait on the findings of the Department of Interior and Local Governments in Central Visayas (DILG-7) to determine what charges will be filed against Quiño and his council.

DILG-7 Director Pedro Noval said administrative charges may be filed against Giangan and the Compostela police for failing to secure the municipal hall building.

Noval was appointed as temporary caretaker mayor of Compostela last Thursday.

Back to normal

He said the theft charges stemmed from the missing chain and padlocks of the municipal building.

Noval said they will coordinate with the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) to determine what charges will be filed against Giangan and the Compostela police.

About 30 supporters of Quiño still held vigil yesterday at the vicinity.

Giangan said they are still monitoring the situation and will require those wishing to enter the building to sign in the logbooks for record and security purposes.

Otherwise, Noval said the situation in Compostela town returned to normal despite the presence of policemen in the municipal hall.

Giangan said 50 policemen from the Regional Mobile Group (RMG) and Special Reaction Unit (SRU) augmented the local police force.

For his part Noval, who paid a courtesy call to Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, said he was advised by the governor to use the municipality’s 20 percent development fund to pay for the town’s basic social services.

The 20 percent fund comes from the town’s reenacted 2009 budget in 2009.

Priority programs

Garcia told Cebu Daily News that Noval could now convene the Municipal Development Council to identify priority programs for the municipality.

The council is composed of the local chief executive or mayor as chairman, barangay captains and representatives from nongovernment agencies.

The governor said the council can revisit the old annual investment plan and identify the town’s needed projects.

But Noval said he will still have to review the plan.

He said a joint memorandum circular order was amended by DILG and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on the utilization of the development fund last month.

Noval requested Garcia to provide the town with additional garbage trucks for its solid waste management.

She ordered the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) to check the material recovery facility (MRF) funding provided to each barangays under the D-GWEN program.

Garcia said that they had allocated P15,000 for each barangays to be used in their respective MRF.

About 15 of 17 barangays reportedly received the funding.