YEARENDER: Talisay City's "untouchable" son

CEBU - Joavan Fernandez, the controversial son of Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez, emerged as the most notorious man in Talisay City in 2008. He will most likely not forget 2008 in his lifetime when he had a series of brushes with the law, was sent to jail again and branded “a potential risk to the public” by Vice Mayor Lani Abarquez.

Last August 11, barely a year after he earned his temporary liberty after posting a P200,000 bail in connection with his murder case, Joavan made his first major news headline for the year after allegedly abducting two vulcanizing shop workers in barangay Tabunok.

He did not only allegedly detain cousins Winston Abellana, 23, and Osbert Abellana, 21, in his house in sitio Mansueto, barangay Tabunok, he and five others also allegedly beat them.

The two showed up at the office of city prosecutor of Marshall Rubia the following day with bruises all over their bodies.

The mayor’s adopted son allegedly punished the two for the loss of his father’s tire that disappeared while the car was being serviced at the vulcanizing shop.

Joavan denied the claims.

But while his five friends, Benedict Gabasa, Teodoro Ligaray, Mark Perez and two other minors, were nabbed shortly after the commission of the crime, it took the authorities, this time with the help of the National Bureau of Investigation operatives, almost two months to finally arrest him.

In October 6, Joavan was arrested for the two counts of serious illegal detention filed against him by the Abellanas while enjoying a Thai massage in barangay Tabunok.

He is now being held at the Talisay City Detention and Rehabilitation Center in barangay Maghaway, the same place where he got his first taste of jail life for the alleged murder of PUJ driver Panfilo Barinque last August 29, 2006.

He was however acquitted, in a decision promulgated by RTC Branch 12 judge Estela Alma Cinco last December 22, citing lack of evidence of the prosecution.

Joavan was accused of killing Barinque who was shot eight times. But the main witnesses, including the family of Barinque, withdrew from the case shortly before the trial could begin.

Joavan is still detained now for the two counts of serious illegal detention case filed by the Abellanas. But this can change after Winston filed his affidavit of desistance which could weaken the case.

While already in jail awaiting trial, another warrant for his arrest was released early this month. The warrant was in connection to the robbery case lodged by Mercedita Abellana, the vulcanizing shop owner, who accused Joavan of taking away her TV set and a DVD player when she could not pay for his father’s lost tire. His bail for this case was set at P100,000.

However, Mercedita, also the aunt of Winston and Osbert, already issued her affidavit of desistance after reportedly receiving P10,000 from Mayor Fernandez. But while Mercedita admitted receiving the money, the mayor however denied ever giving her any amount.

In late October, shortly after she filed her affidavit of desistance, some men allegedly working for the mayor returned the TV set and DVD player to her shop.

Two weeks before the August mauling incident, Joavan reportedly threatened a pump attendant of a gasoline station in barangay Lawaan I with his gun after the latter refused to refill his car.

Edward dela Torre, 23, told policemen, it was at around 11 p.m. last July 24, when Joavan did not only threaten to kill him but also blow up the station, where he had a credit line, after he was not allowed to refill to his red Isuzu Trooper Bighorn.

The pump attendant was given instructions by his supervisor who said Joavan still owes P50,000 to the station.

The mayor however was quick to patch things up with the station owner and Dela Torre did not push through with filing charges against the mayor’s son.

It did not stop there. Three weeks later, Joavan threatened to rain bullets on the same gas station after the same pump attendant refused to give him car fresheners for credit. The management said the said items were only sold on cash basis.

But the incident was not reported to the police.

Joavan also escaped charges for his other “misadventures”.

In early June, he apprehended a truckload of coal even if it had the necessary permits and he was not deputized to do so. And barely a month later, he was allegedly spotted carrying an unlicensed firearm.

Joavan also allegedly almost ran over his friend Kashmir dela Cuesta with his Pajero. However, because of their friendship, Dela Cuesta refused to file charges against Joavan.

In early September, Joavan, who was at that time hired as a city hall worker under his father’s quota, was allegedly causing trouble at city’s motorpool, where he was once seen reportedly carrying a gun while angrily looking for someone.

However, the motorpool head, Themistocles “Loloy” Fernandez, who is also Joavan’s uncle, denied that such an incident happened in his department and that it was only a “misinterpretation”.

This was just one of the many times Joavan was reportedly carrying a gun but it was only in late August when the police searched his house. But the controversial raid, in which the mayor himself was present, yielded no firearms at all.

It was during his arrest in October however that NBI agents discovered two magazines, one for a pistol and the other for a submachine gun, together with some .45 cal. and 9mm cartridges, in the Pajero parked in front of the massage parlor where he was arrested. No firearm was found.

While the mayor was quick to extinguish notions that he was intervening for his son, other groups believed otherwise.

On October 16, a day after the city celebrated its annual fiesta minus Joavan, former barangay chief of Jaclupan and former ally of the mayor Avelino Labajo, backed by businessman Crisologo Saavedra, filed a recall petition against Fernandez.

Their group claimed that Talisaynons have already lost their confidence in the mayor with the series of incidents involving his son and his alleged intervention in his cases.

Saavedra assured that they will get the required number of signatures by November, and around that time they will file the petition before the Commission on Elections.

But even before they could amass the needed signatures the Comelec suspended actions on all recall petitions in a November 13 resolution for lack of funding.

Joavan, considered his father’s “cross,” is now spending his time in jail, to the relief of the city residents, but according to many, because of the withdrawal of Winston and Mercedita from the case, he will likely be freed soon. —/BRP   (THE FREEMAN)