"Joavan, Joavan!"

CEBU, Philippines - Trouble seems to be the middle name of Joavan Fernandez, ever-controversial son of Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez.

Last year, Joavan again landed on front pages of Cebu dailies after getting involved in various controversies. Most of these have sent him to jail for several times.

Joavan, who is currently out on bail for illegal possession of drugs, drug paraphernalia and illegal firearms charges, has sought preliminary probe so he could answer all charges in 15 days.

Joavan was able to post bail at P300,000; P200,000 for illegal drugs charges; P60,000 for illegal firearms, and the P40,000 for the drug paraphernalia allegedly found inside his vehicle when he was arrested.

Elements of the Highway Patrol Group in September of 2009 arrested Joavan, who is out on bail for separate charges of two counts of illegal detention and robbery along with four other companions, for allegedly going against the flow of traffic while headed towards Lapu-Lapu City.

The authorities tailed the Isuzu Bighorn vehicle driven by Fernandez, who reportedly refused to stop even after he was given warning by pursuing officers. The chase went on and stopped at the entrance of the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Police immediately gave the vehicle a thorough check after seeing an empty holster tucked on the waist of Fernandez. Found in the vehicle was a .38 caliber revolver and two granules of white crystalline substances believed to be methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

They also recovered five empty packs which they believed had contained shabu, and some paraphernalia used in sniffing the illegal substance. The policemen said Fernandez could not present a license for the gun.

Arrested with Fernandez were Wilfredo Abellana Vega, 46, of Cansojong, Talisay City; Quazar Bacaltos Quiachon, 33, of Miami Homes, Talisay City; Mark Ryan Alcover, 28, also of Talisay; and Alinor Mamao Andingan, 28, of Pajac, Lapu-Lapu City.

They will also be charged for illegally sounding off their vehicle siren, as stipulated by Presidential Decree 96 which states that “no one, except for designated persons, can use a siren or other forms of blinkers in public.”

Joavan has been temporarily released from jail before being arrested for drugs after the Regional Trial Court granted his petition for bail for the two counts of serious illegal detention for allegedly mauling and detaining cousins Oscar and Osbert Abellana last year.

He is also facing another robbery and possession of illegal drug paraphernalia charges and was made to bail at P100,000 for each of the count against him.

RTC Branch 22 Judge Manuel Patalinghug approved the petition filed last March by Joavan’s lawyer George Bragat who stated that the piece of evidence is inherently weak and devoid of legal and factual basis.

Patalinghug said that after an assiduous review and analysis of the testimony of the alleged eye witness, the court cannot find any indication or showing that the complainant was forcefully transported away, locked up and restrained of his freedom and prevented from communicating with anyone.

Joavan’s release order came out June last year, months shortly before he was again arrested for illegal drugs in Lapu-Lapu City.

The others charged with Fernandez in the two counts of serious illegal detention case were Benedict Gabasa, Mark Perez, Teodoro Ligaray, and two minors.

Last January, the court ordered the release of Fernandez’s two companions to the custody of their parents pursuant to the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.

Joavan, together with five companions, allegedly mauled and detained cousins Winston and Osbert Abellana on August 11, 2008.

Joavan was also charged after he was accused of allegedly stealing a television set and a DVD (Digital Versatile/Video Disc) player from the vulcanizing shop owned by Merceditha Abellana on the dawn of August 9 last year.

Merceditha said that Joavan arrived at her house in sitio Kimba, barangay Cansojong at 2:30 a.m. of August 9, 2008 and reportedly angrily confronted her of a missing tire owned by his father, Mayor Soc, which was left in her shop for patching.

According to Merceditha, Joavan was asking for payment of the lost tire but she allegedly did not have money prompting her to promise to give the payment as soon as she is able to obtain a loan.

However, Joavan allegedly left taking with him her nephew, Osbert, to the vulcanizing shop where the accused allegedly forcibly took the appliances worth P14,000.

However, Merceditha has withdrawn and filed an affidavit of desistance of the said charges but still the Talisay City Prosecutor’s Office filed a “robbery” case against him after finding enough evidence to indict him.

The RTC also acquitted Fernandez in the murder charge which stemmed from the shooting to death of a public utility jeepney driver at the Maglasang Village in Talisay City on August 2006.

RTC Branch 12 Judge Estela Alma Cinco cleared Joavan of the murder charge after the latter filed a demurrer to evidence, citing lack of evidence of the prosecution.

Joavan was accused as the assailant of Panfilo Barinque, the PUJ driver who was shot to death eight times along the road. Joavan was reported to be with three other unidentified men during the incident.

According to PO2 Joel Rosales, the investigator of the crime, there were two separate shooting incidents on August 29, 2006 in which Fernandez’s name was involved.

Fernandez was only identified by one of the survivors in the two separate shooting incidents. Timoteo Aleo told police that it was Joavan who shot him.

Aleo said that there were three men who waylaid and shot him, the same statements made by one of the witnesses in the shooting of Barinque.

The witness said Barinque was shot by three men. But there was no supporting evidence that it was Joavan who really shot the driver.

Joavan’s name was tagged in the shooting incidents because he was identified by Aleo who filed another case against him. Joavan was reportedly found positive of gunpowder in a paraffin test.

In her nine-page decision, Cinco said that in every criminal case, the prosecution must prove two things: the fact of the crime and the fact that the accused is the perpetrator of the crime.

Cinco said that the accused can only be convicted on credible and convincing testimonies that he is the perpetrator. 

Currently, Joavan’s cases have been heard in two regional trial courts in Cebu -the RTC of Cebu City and the RTC of Lapu-Lapu City. — /MEEV (THE FREEMAN)