Town dad to file countercharge against rights group member

A municipal councilor of Tuburan is set to file a countercharge against a human rights activist group member who sued him last week for allegedly trying to kill her.

Tuburan councilor Roy Tabo-tabo told The FREEMAN yesterday that he was surprised why Emmylou Buni Cruz filed a case against him.

Last week, Cruz, a staff member of Karapatan-Central Visayas, accused Tabo-tabo, a beach resort owner; his caretaker Ritchel Buhawi, and a certain Pepoy and Ricky Lao who were reported to be members of the military's 78th Infantry Battalion of trying to kill her on November 24.

Cruz was on her way home with her husband when they allegedly fired upon by the soldiers whom she claimed she earlier saw staying at Tabo-tabo's resort cottage.

Although he left the beach under the care of Buhawe, Tabo-tabo said he had no knowledge that 78th IB members have been staying there.

"Wa man tawon ko'y knowledge nga naa diay nagpuyo diha nga military, kay bisan kinsa ra man ang moanha diha maligo ug mokaon. Unya wa man sab ko pahibaw-a ni Ritchel nga naay nagpuyo diha nga taga 17th IB kay di man na makatulgan kay wa may kuryente ug way lantay," Tabo-tabo said.

Tabo-tabo said his beach resort in Barangay 8 is open to the public considering that it has no fence.

He also said that it was unfair for him to be accused by Karapatan members of wrongdoing because they participated in some of the council sessions because of their clamor to rid Tuburan of the 78th IB.

"It is unfair on my part, maayo lang diay silang makigkita kon naa sila'y tuyo," said Tabo-tabo.

His wife, who teaches at one of the universities in Cebu City, and used to be a staff member of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, is the first-degree cousin of Dorothy Segara Paraiso, a Karapatan staff member whom Cruz had replaced.

The councilor said that he is contemplating filing a countercharge against Cruz and the Karapatan, adding that their complaint brought shame to his children, especially when his name came out in the newspaper as one of those who allegedly tried to kill her.

"Unsa man say motive nako kon ako siyang patyon and what will I gain from it unya suod pa na sila sa akong wife," Tabo-tabo added.

Cruz, in her complaint, said that while she and her husband Danielle Brylle were walking on their way home after a meeting with peasants, two armed men onboard a motorcycle fired at them, hitting her in the chest. - Flor Z. Perolina