Joavan fires at gas station; workers flee

Joavan Fernandez, Talisay city mayor’s son, is in  trouble again for shooting a  gasoline station after attendants refused to  fill up his SUV early dawn of  Sunday.

Bullet holes were  visible in  one gas  pump and the cashier’s booth of the Shell service station  in barangay Bulacao, Talisay City where he dropped by past 12 midnight.

He admitted losing his cool and firing away  after the  pump boys  ran off  in fear upon recognizing him at the wheel of the Honda CRV.

Joavan had exceeded his “credit limit” and the attendants didn’t want to face him, knowing he wouldn’t pay.

It was the same gas station where Joavan alarmed  workers in March 2011 when he  hit the forehead of a gasoline attendant who refused to fill up his car  because he had no letter of authority from his father.

“Nagtuo ko nga nidagan sila kay gitawag nila si papa (Mayor Fernandez) aron ko matubilan. Sus! Miabot mana ug 25 minutos niya wa pa gyu’y niatubang nako, aw ako silang gipusil (I thought they ran off to call my father so that they could fill the vehicle with gasoline. But after 25 minutes, nobody served me  so I got angry and fired at shot them),” Joavan Fernandez told Cebu Daily News over the phone about the latest encounter on Sunday.

Talisay Police Chief Eddie Recamara said his men would file a complaint for malicious mischief and illegal discharge of a a firearm against Joavan  at the end of the week or sooner, if they can arrest him.

Recamara said he gave his men a week to arrest Joavan as part of a “hot pursuit” operation.

The adopted son of Mayor Socrates Fernandez  is known for his  impulsive, violent outbursts that have  landed him in  news reports for several years.

Each time, however, the mayor’s  intervention and the fear of victims to press charges have enabled Joavan to elude a court conviction on various charges of illegal possession of drugs, guns,  illegal detention and physical injuries.

Joavan yesterday said  he also lost his temper because he was  worried about his mother who he said was  in the Intensive Care Unit in Miller’s Hospital.  He didn’t say what ailment his mother was suffering.

Joavan wasn’t worried at all about the reported Talisay city police order for his arrest.

He knew the limits of a warrantless arrest and was confident he couldn’t be picked up for the shooting—at least not without a court order.

“How can they arrest me when the 24-hour period has lapsed?” he said in Cebuano.

Talisay City councilor Danny Caballero of  the oppposition bloc urged the gas station attendants and owner to press charges against the mayor’s son.

The gasoline station boys and the cashier reported the incident to police.

Responding  policemen found two empty shells of a caliber .45 pistol at the scene. /Gabriel C. Bonjoc, Correspondent