Brawl
“Miscommunication.”That was the explanation given by Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo to reporters for the brawl outside Kuerks bar, a hangout for students, where one high school student ended up with a cracked skull after the good official allegedly hit him with a large rock.
That’s a strange response for a lawyer.
How does one argue with a rock in one’s face?
The councilor’s role in the Sunday dawn commotion is far removed from his mandate as a city legsilator.
Witnesses who identified Carillo as the one who “pacified” a rumble by striking 16-year-old Jan Niño Pogoy in the head are up against a well-connected lawyer with solid connections in the Bando Osmena.
For this reason, the investigation will have to be done at arms length of Carillo’s influence in the Cebu city council.
Why would youngsters, friends of Jan Niño, make up a story implicating a City Hall official?
The Sunday commotion also brings to light the situation of bars in barangay Kamgayan, well known for serving liquor to student customers who flock there to enjoy affordable beer and band music.
A Cebu City ordinance prohibits establishments from serving liquor to minors or operating within 100 meters from a school if they have liquor on the menu.
Carillo, who says he was there just “eating pizza” was identified by young patrons as a regular in the area because he was, by perception, the owner of the bar.
An impartial investigation should bring to light his actual interest in the entertainment spot.
Carillo said he was just responding to a trouble alarm in the bar, and intervened in the commotion with a barangay tanod he happened to be hanging out with.
We wonder whether, in his many occasions for reverie in Kuerks, he noticed that city ordinances on liquor service to minors were being flouted.
It’s also ironic that the victim himself is the son of a policeman, and has a brother in the police force who responded to the trouble alarm at Kuerks bar.
A no-holds-barred inquiry is in order.
No one is above the law.
