Bodyguards of Mancio arrested at checkpoint

MADRIDEJOS - Five men, two of them bodyguards of Madridejos Mayor Letty Mancio, were arrested last Thursday night for alleged possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition and violation of the gun ban imposed by the Commission on Elections.

The PNP Task Force Bantayan team led by Chief Insp. Julian Entoma was conducting their nightly checkpoint along the provincial road in barangay Kaongkod, Madridejos, when they flagged down a white Toyota Wagon with plate number TBD-733.

According to Entoma, his men stopped the vehicle and ordered the men inside to turn on the cabin light so they can see more clearly, but when the men said their light was not working the policemen brought out flashlights and saw they had guns inside the vehicle.

Seized from the vehicle were a Carbine rifle, a .22 cal. revolver and Luger machine pistol as well as assorted ammunition for the guns.

The men in the vehicle were later identified as Roldan Dacutan, 48, of Pagsabungan, Mandaue City; Cezar Jabaguen, 32 of Tarong, Mandaue City; Wilfredo Bacalso, 38, Cubacub, Madridejos and Romeo Santillan, 40 and Allan Mancio, 32, both of Malbago, Madridejos.

In a separate interview, Mayor Mancio admitted that the five men worked for her. Dacutan and Jabaguen are her personal bodyguards while Allan Mancio is a relative of her husband.

Mayor Mancio said the firearms seized by the police have licenses and the vehicle was owned by an employee of the town and is used in her campaigns.

She said that the men were responding to an alleged harassment alarm against one of her supporters in barangay San Agustin and did not know the guns were in the vehicle.

The guns were reportedly placed in the vehicle for the mayor''s protection after the killing of Sta. Fe mayoralty candidate Rogelio Illustrisimo Sr. last Wednesday.

The men are now detained at the Madridejos police station while appropriate charges will be filed against them today before the provincial prosecutor''s office. - Garry B. Lao/BRP