Joavan’s comeuppance

What happened at the Palace of Justice last Thursday could have been taken straight out of a local comedy show: Joavan Fernandez, oft-arrested adopted son of Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez being collared by Cebu City police and forced to spend the night at a Cebu City jail.

The comedy lies in the fact that Joavan, who managed to elude Cebu City police twice—the first during a wild goose chase that led to the arrest of Joavan’s sidekick who drove the mayor’s government issued vehicle, the second resulting in a collision as Joavan rammed his vehicle into a police car after being cornered.

But there was no car for Joavan to use to ram the police just as he was about to leave the Palace of Justice attending to one of his many cases.

With no other means of escape, Joavan had to spend the night at the Cebu City Jail and then watch his father suffer the indignity of wearing a crash helmet to visit him in a futile attempt to avoid the prying eyes of the news media. Really now, the mayor stuck out like a sore thumb in that helmet when he arrived in a government issued Pajero.

The mayor cried foul over the arrest, saying Joavan had posted bail for his malicious mischief charges a few days after he had his run-in with the Cebu City police. The police, for its part, justified the arrest because the mayor’s son failed to follow procedure by skipping the arrest and paying bail instead.

Legal technicalities are a hair-splitter, but at least Joavan had something to smile about after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), an agency known for being more careful in handling criminal suspects, failed to produce certification that would justify his arrest on a previous drug charge.

The mayor’s son, who has long been a thorn on the side of the Talisay City police and is now spreading the venom of his criminal behavior in Cebu City, hit a new low—can he sink any lower?—when he was spotted by witnesses kicking his girlfriend out the vehicle he rode in during traffic.

When he posted bail, Joavan promised to change for the better anew and told the public “not to judge him.” He should tell that to the courts instead.

The public need not judge Joavan because the police and the courts are already doing the job for them. And based on their findings and rulings, Joavan is at best a juvenile delinquent—married with kids but still acting like a wayward teenager.

His abuses only magnify his father’s state of denial, a continuing refusal to commit him to rehabilitation, where Joavan stands a greater chance of fulfilling his promise to change for the better.

Alas, Joavan’s mayor-father would rather suffer the indignity of hiding his face behind a crash helmet than showing some tough love.