Talisay temp arrested for "grave coercion"

CEBU, Philippines - A Talisay City Hall temporary worker assigned at the office of Mayor Socrates Fernandez was arrested Thursday by police for alleged grave coercion.

Gemol “Gemoy” Borces, of sitio Kalinaw 2, barangay Tanke of the same city, was arrested at the mayor’s office by SPO3 Frederick Larrobis

and PO3 Arnold Damasco through a warrant issued by Municipal Trial Court in the Cities (MTCC) Judge Mario Manayon.

Susan Bono, MTCC’s clerk of court, said the arrest stemmed from the case filed by former Cebu City Councilor Procopio Fernandez against Borces and co-accused Renanto Borces, Peter Borces and Silvestre Abapo, who also have pending arrest warrants but had remained at large as of this writing.

Bono said that based from the court’s decision, the four will be serving their sentence for six months, apart from paying a P2,000 fine each.

The accused had already appealed the earlier decision of the court, but Manayon, through this latest ruling, had affirmed an earlier resolution, hence, they can no longer file for probation.

The former Cebu City councilor slapped Borces and three others, who were members of the cause-oriented group Sanlakas, grave coercion for repeatedly staging demonstrations in front of his restaurant in barangay Tanke. The demonstration, which started sometime in 2006, was staged to protest Fernandez’s business, which fishermen of Tanke had been opposed to for the reason it took away their main livelihood after Fernandez reclaimed a good portion of the beachfront where they used to dock their boats.

Borces admitted he was a member of Sanlakas but broke ties with it some years ago. (FREEMAN)