CEBU City Councilor Gerardo Carillo yesterday asked for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to handle the investigation of Sunday’s rumble outside Kuerks restobar, where a 16-year-old customer was seriously injured.
He said it was better for the NBI to step in since the victim’s father is a Lapu-Lapu city policeman and his brother is also a policeman in the Parian station.
Allegations that Carillo was the one who hit 16-year-old Jan Niño Pogoy with a rock, cracking the boy’s skull, didn’t stop the councilor from attending the regular session of the City Council yesterday.
The bar brawl that made headlines in Cebu newspapers wasn’t brought up during the legislative session.
Carillo was reluctant to comment on the case further during an ambush interview after the council session.
He said he agreed with his lawyer Noel Archival to let the lawyer do the talking.
Carillo, who denied injuring the boy, said he happened to be at Kuerks resto bar “eating pizza” and discussing politics with Duljo Fatima barangay captain Elmer Abella when a commotion broke out in the parking lot among several men, including youths.
He said he intervened to prevent any bloodshed, and was surprised to find out later that he was accused of hitting Jan Niño.
“As far as I am concerned, I did not do anything wrong.”
“I responded (to the commotion). As a public official, I responded to a crime and likewise the barangay captain of Duljo Fatima and the tanods. We were just there to prevent bloodshed,” he said.
Carillo said he did not see any minors when he visited Kuerks late Sunday night.
“There was no minor in my bar actually,” he said. He later corrected himself and said he does not own the bar.
He said they “responded” to a commotion in the parking lot because “according to the report that we got from the bar mura ug gipareglahan sila sa gawas.”
Carillo said he brought one of the youngsters to the police station and asked him to tell his friends to go there as well to explain their side.
“Any public official during that time has to respond,” he said.
Carillo said he would wait for the formal complaint so he can respond in the proper forum.
Carillo said the city ordinance setting a curfew for minors from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and prohibiting establishments from serving them liquor should be strictly enforced.
Councilor Margot Osmeña, Carillo’s ally in Bando Osmena Pundok Kauswagan, kept off the issue of Sunday’s violence.
She just expressed support for Carillo’s call to revisit the city’s liquor and curfew ordinances.
“Let’s just leave it at that because (the mayor) has already instructed DSWS to look into the matter,” said Osmeña.
Mayor Michael Rama said he was not keen on a curfew because it would be like “Martial Law”.
“Times have changed. You will also become repressive if you implement a curfew,” he said.
Rama said it would be best to activate the city’s joint inspection team to monitor the activities of restobars.