POLICE yesterday filed a string of charges against four persons who purportedly caused trouble during a clearing operation in barangay Pahina Central, Cebu City.
Editha Inso, Binigno Inso, Eva Mabini, and Fe Mariboto were charged with alarm scandal, slander, grave coercion, as well as resistance and disobedience before the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office.
The respondents chose not to undergo preliminary investigation.
Assistant City Prosecutor Alex Gabud recommended the filing of charges against the respondents before the court.
Raquel Arce, head of the Prevention Restoration Order Beautification Enhancement (Probe), said there should have been no trouble had the respondents complied with the demand to vacate the place they were occupying.
“We gave them a 72-hour notice and a chance to voluntarily vacate the place. Thirty minutes before we implemented the clearing operations, we gave them a warning,” she said in an interview yesterday.
Arce refused to comment on allegations that they violated certain rights of the respondents during the clearing operations.
But she said they just did what they were supposed to do.
“As agent in authority, I have to do my job,” she said.
The respondents allegedly threw bottles, pans and bowls to the personnel of Probe during the clearing operation of an eatery inside the Pahina Central Sports Complex last Monday.
Arce described their clearing operation as the worst that they have conducted this year. She believes Inso’s family were not afraid to act violently because they had the support of the officials from their barangay.
“The subject of the operation was just one but why it ended up like this. The barangay council was behind the operation. As you can see, the barangay vehicle was even used in transporting the merchandise,” said Arce in Cebuano.
The operation was conducted after some residents complained to the mayor about the presence of Inso’s eatery inside the sports complex.
Gerardo Gonzales, one of the residents, said they filed a petition for its demolition last 2011.
“Its blocking the way. They disallowed the use of the basketball court and the toilet. That’s why we are happy that the eatery was removed” said Gonzales.
Marvic Alvino, another resident, said that workers of the eatery would intentionally spill water over the court so that children would not play around.
Arce said they were urged to implement the order after they received a letter request from Cebu City Medical Center officer-in-charge Dr. Gloria Duterte last July 26, asking that the eatery be cleared soon.
Inso’s eatery was located in front of the hospital’s storage facility, which they plan to convert into an Animal Bite Treatment Center (ABTC) in line with CCMC’s expansion plans, before the end of this year.
“CCMC wishes that they be placed in a better, more sanitary location as soon as possible, so as not to delay the infrastructure works of the ABTC,” Duterte wrote in her letter.
Last Thursday, a 72-hour notice was sent to Inso instructing her to voluntarily vacate the area but she refused to accept the order.
She brought with her a barangay resolution dated October 6, 2012 which granted her authority to vend inside the sports complex as long as she keeps the area clean.
She said she refused to voluntarily clear her stall because she still has a pending case filed against former PROBE head Antonio Hermosisima before the Visayas Ombudsman last year.
She said she is planning to file another case against the Probe personnel whom she accused of dragging her husband on the ground.