Poster boy of Talisay

They may have arrested two of his cohorts but the Talisay City police remains five steps behind Joavan Fernandez, Talisay’s elusive scoundrel.

Joavan not only scared those who dared not vote for his foster father, but had a laugh over the failure of authorities to catch him.

The survivor of a string of criminal charges for drug use, illegal firearm possession, grave threats and attempted murder, Joavan insists he’s the victim in this merry chase.

He’s out of sight again.

After last week’s episode, a midnight shooting in Talisay where a car shop watchman swears Joavan rode up in a motorbike and fired his handgun at him, with no clear provocation, Joavan is under the protection yet again of his father Talisay Mayor Socrates Fernandez, a pastor whom everyone in Talisay loves, but exasperates supporters with his consentidor parenting style.

Joavan’s alibi is typical. The married, but unemployed adult, insists he was somewhere else when the shooting took place: a motel.

And the mayor believes him.

Instead of keeping his word to the Talisay police chief to turn over his son for investigation, the mayor backtracked on Monday and said he would wait for a warrant of arrest.

A police invitation to answer some questions is not a death sentence, but Joavan seems to think so. He said he was previously invited for questioning by the police, only to be arrested and jailed for a crime he didn’t commit.

The mayor cited the same reason in reneging on his “usapang lalaki “(man to man talk)” with Senior Supt. Elmer Lim, Talisay City police chief.

The exasperated police chief called Mayor Fernandez a “liar”. The mayor kept his cool and clarified that he would turn over his son only if Joavan shows up at the family home in Talisay. That statement alone was a clear signal to his adopted son to stay away until the heat is off.

The gentle, Bible-quoting Mayor Fernandez is the last person one would call a warlord. But his household shelters a favored child who proudly acts like a goon.

If Joavan can go around brandishing a gun and intimidating residents with impunity while an election gun ban is in force, who needs a private army to prove one is in power?

In all likelihood, the ever-popular Mayor Fernandez will win his election bid for a seat in the Talisay City Council on May 13.

But the example he repeatedly sets of an overprotective foster father in a position of influence makes a mockery of the rule of law.

Joavan is Talisay City’s poster boy for impunity.

It’s up to the mayor’s political patriarch Rep. Eduardo Gullas, who is a shoe-in for the Talisay mayorship, to show that the role of “father of brat” ends where “father of the city” begins.

As for the police, Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo, regional police director, has three weeks to achieve his announced goal of an election free of “guns and goons.”

In the case of Joavan, the deadline was actually yesterday.