Carillo denies hitting 16-year-old customer with a rock; victim in critical condition for cracked skull

A 16-year-old boy is in critical condition in the hospital after he was bashed in the head with a rock allegedly by reelected Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo in the parking lot of Kuerks restobar in barangay Kamagayan, Cebu City.

The victim John Niño Pogoy, 16, was operated on yesteday to address internal bleeding due to a cracked skull after he was brought unconscious to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

“It was a misunderstanding,” was all Carillo told reporters when he left the Cebu City police station, where he was invited for questioning yesterday by investigators.

Carillo, who frequents the restobar on Pelaez Street, had reportedly gone there to respond to a trouble alarm about a brawl among customers who had been drinking till the wee hours of Sunday dawn.

John Niño is the son of a Lapu-Lapu city policeman. His elder brother PO1 Kenneth Pogoy, was one of the policemen who responded to the 3 a.m. trouble alarm, unaware that the wounded customer was his sibling.

“His skull was broken,” said PO1 Pogoy of the Parian police station.

Why a minor was allowed to drink liquor in a bar is one of the questions Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he wanted looked into.

“We also have to check with the social welfare office and the anti-indecency board why a minor was there,” he told reporters.

Police are preparing a charge of serious physical injuries against Councilor Carilllo, a member of the Bando Osmena-Pundok Kauswagan, based on accounts of three witnesses.

Carillo let his lawyer Nestor Archival face the news media to deny reports that the councilor was a part owner of the Kuerks restobar, a favourite hangout of the official.

“Carillo is not the owner,” said the lawyer.

“Our position is that he was not the one who threw the rock. There were many people around.”

PO1 Pogoy said his younger brother underwent surgery to remove particles in his skull.

Cebu Daily News learned from hospital sources that the teenager was operated on by neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Aldana. The youth was admitted unconscious and registered 7 on a 15-step Glasgow coma scale. After the operation to address internal bleeding in his brain, his condition improved to 14 but remains under post-surgery observation to determine any effects of the head trauma to normal body functions.

Police said at least three witnesses positively identified Carillo as the one who struck John Niño in the head with a rock.

“Gihampak og bato. Nakita namo sa akto si Jerry Carillo,” said one witness who gave his statement to homicide probers of the Cebu City Police Office yesterday. They said Carillo was under the influence of liquor at the time.

The rock was recovered as evidence and is in the custody of the homicide section.

Archival said the police should wait for the victim himself to identify the perpetrator.

“What if he says it wasn’t Carillo who hit him with the rock?” said Archival, whose brother Nestor is also a newly elected City Councilor.

“We respect the statements of the witnesses, but this a simple case. Dili gyod na siya ang nagbato,”he said.

During a confrontation yesterday, Carillo was positively identified by witnesses, said SPO1 Jay Yablle, chief investigator.

Yballe said police are waiting for the decision of John Niño’s parents whether they would press charges.

Carillo refused to give a statement to reporters.

He just said, “Miscommunication lang”, before boarding his vehicle and leaving the police camp.

The victim’s father SPO4 Samuel Pogoy is assigned at the Lapu Lapu City Police Office.

His brother PO1 Pogoy was one of the policemen who responded to the trouble alarm in the bar shortly before 4 a.m. He only learned that the victim was his brother when he visited the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) for followup investigation. The wounded youth was later moved to the VSMMC.

Police said three witnesses related that John Niño was with five friends drinking in Kuerks restobar when they met a group of men whom they were at odds with.

John Niño and his group stayed in the bar until 4 a.m. when a rumble took place. Carillo was allegedly seen approaching the group, then striking the youth’s head with a rock.

He said he was close enough to be identified by the customers, said PO1 Pogoy.

Police said they received two trouble alarms in the same area that night. The first time they responded, adverse parties were already pacified and already left the area.

About 3 a.m., Pogoy said police received another phone call about trouble in the restobar. When police arrived, the victim was already brought to the city hospital.

Before the incident was recorded in the police blotter, Carillo brought two persons to the Parian police station. He identified them as the ones responsible for hitting the victim, said Senior Inspector Lencio Baliguat.

Baliguat just assumed office last Monday as chief of the Parian station and told reporters he was informed about the violence.

Because there was no witness to identify the two men brought by the councilor, the two were released. Three other witnesses identified Carillo as the aggressor.

At the hospital, the victim’s father, Samuel told Cebu Daily News the affidavits of witnesses were ready and that he and his wife would decide together their next steps.

Several classmates of John Niño visited him at the Neuro Critical Care Unit of the government hospital. With Correspondents Joy Cherry Quito and Jose Santino Bunachita