Cebu councilor faces rap for assault on cop’s son

CEBU CITY—A city councilor was accused of hitting the head of a police officer’s 16-year-old son with a stone during a brawl in a bar in Cebu City last Sunday.

The boy suffered a broken skull and taken to the intensive care unit of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), a government hospital.

Councilor Gerardo Carillo denied hitting the boy, saying he merely tried to break up the fight between two warring groups.

Carillo, who had built an image as an advocate of children’s rights, is chair of the city council committee on social services before his term as councilor ended in 2010.

He is also a consultant of the Department of Social Welfare and Development before he was elected councilor.

The boy is son of SPO4 Samuel Pogoy of the Lapu-Lapu City police office and younger brother of PO1 Kenneth Pogoy, of the Barangay Parian police unit.

Kenneth said his brother’s skull was broken after Carillo hit the boy with a stone and had to undergo surgery. The boy remains unconscious.

Three witnesses told police that they were in a drinking party with the boy and two others late Saturday at the Kuerks Restobar on Pelaez Street when they encountered a rival group.

Around 4 a.m. Sunday, the two groups had a fight at a parking lot outside the bar, they said.

The witnesses said they saw Carillo approach the boy and hit him in the head with a stone.

Lawyer Noel Archival, legal counsel of Carillo, said his client has denied he hit the boy but admitted he was at the bar to break up the fight.