TF Yap arrests mayor’s henchman

Ozamis City — One of the henchmen of the jailed former mayor of Sapang Dalaga, Misamis Occidental, Jose Yap was arrested the other day but the Yap family accused the raiding team of the Task Force Yap for illegal raid and the confiscation of jewelries and money allegedly derived from the sale of copra.

The Task Force Yap headed by Supt. Van Luspo, who coordinated with the 911 Police Mobile Group of the province , was armed with a warrant of arrest for Virgilio Tactacon, an alleged henchman of the jailed mayor. They entered the compound and arrested the suspect. However, a police source said that they "stumbled" upon some suspected pieces of evidence and the cash which they believed could help in the case against the jailed mayor.

Tactacon’s warrant of arrest was issued by Judge Primitivo Abarquez of the Regional Trial Court in Calamba, Misamis Occidental.

But Pacita Yap, the mother and incumbent mayor of Sapang Dalaga and ex-mayor Rey Yap, in a statement released to the media here yesterday said that the Task Force Yap raiding team after arresting Tactacon, forcibly entered the residence of Mrs. Yap even without a search warrant. They said the raiding team had with them only an arrest warrant for the suspect.

The Yaps claimed that the cash receipt from the sale of copra amounting to some P219,533 and some pieces of jewelries were confiscated.

Jailed former mayor Yap who was implicated last year in the murder of a political rival is now at the national penitentiary and is suspected of engaging in the sale of illegal drugs even while inside his prison cell.