JOAVAN Fernandez, the Talisay City mayor’s son, eluded arrest Sunday morning allegedly by ramming his car against a police vehicle.
He was allegedly trying to avoid being served a warrant of arrest for malicious mischief, a case filed after he hit another police vehicle in Talisay City last year.
Police arrested two of his friends, one for illegal possession of the regulated painkiller Nubain and another for driving without a license. They were using a government-issued Toyota Revo.
Joavan and his friends will be charged with violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002; City Ordinance 1743, which prohibits the sale of toy guns in commercial establishments and sidewalks; and damage to government property.
The latest incident had police chasing Joavan and his friends across two cities and
one northern town, Consolacion.
It also revived appeals for his father, the mayor, to discipline Joavan.
The car he allegedly hit yesterday is a gray Mitsubishi sedan (SHU-126) that belongs to the Cebu City Police Office’s Investigation and Detective Management Branch (IDMB), headed by Chief Insp. George Ylanan.
Ylanan’s team and personnel from the Talisay City Police Station led by their chief, Supt. Henry Biñas, were trying to serve an arrest warrant on Joavan for malicious mischief.
Municipal Trial Court in Cities Judge Mario Manayon issued the warrant.
Ylanan said an asset informed him that Joavan and his friends, Benedict Gabasa and Terence Bayani, were in a house in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
Tailed
They waited for Joavan, who was driving a gray Honda Civic (YEH-323), and Gabasa and Bayani, who were in a government-issued Toyota Revo (SGH-541), in Sindulan, Mabolo.
They arrived minutes later. The Revo, which Gabasa drove, stopped in a parking lot, but Joavan’s car did not.
The IDMB team then tailed Joavan, but he swerved, apparently noticing that he was being followed.
Ylanan stepped down from the IDMB vehicle and approached the Honda Civic, as soon as it stopped.
After Joavan rolled down his car’s window, Ylanan identified himself as a police officer and showed the arrest warrant.
Instead of yielding, Joavan stepped on the gas and almost hit Ylanan, who immediately boarded the IDMB vehicle.
Joavan then hit the IDMB’s vehicle head-on, at least thrice. Ylanan opened fire.
Joavan sped off and his car was later found abandoned in an open space in Barangay Carreta, Cebu City.
Found objects
The police said they found 20 sachets of what appeared to be shabu, a pink pouch and two cell phones inside the car.
Bullets from the police had flattened the car’s left rear wheel, bore two holes near its baggage compartment and cracked the window on the right rear door.
Police also arrested Bayani for allegedly carrying a syringe believed to contain Nubain, a regulated painkiller, and Gabasa, for driving without a license. They are now at Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) detention cell.
After the Revo was brought to the CCPO grounds, a sachet of shabu, drug paraphernalia and a toy gun were found inside it.
The confiscated items were turned over to crime laboratory for examination.
In a separate interview, Supt. Biñas said the Talisay City team has been trying to arrest Joavan since last Thursday, when the warrant came out.
Search
It was issued in connection with a complaint the Talisay City Police filed after Joavan allegedly rammed his green SUV against a police patrol car in Barangay San Roque last year.
Biñas said that they searched for Joavan in some of his usual haunts, such as his house in Mansueto Village and the House of Prayer in Vista Grande Subdivision in Barangay Bulacao, but saw no sight of him.
It was on Saturday night, while they waited outside the Vista Grande Subdivision, that they saw Joavan on board his silver Honda Civic, speeding towards Barangay Tabunok.
A Revo with a red plate followed him.
Biñas, with his operatives, immediately followed Joavan, but he evaded arrest by heading toward the South Road Properties and the North Reclamation Area in Mandaue City.
Biñas said that Joavan’s girlfriend works for a bikini bar situated in the reclamation area. But they didn’t find Joavan there, either.
It was at that time that Ylanan, of the Cebu City police, called up Biñas to say that Joavan was spotted in a lingam massage parlor on F. Ramos St. in Cebu City.
He was next seen heading north.
Flat
Biñas attempted to follow Joavan toward Danao, but a flat tire in Consolacion town stopped him.
While the tire was being replaced, the police said they saw Joavan’s silver Honda Civic heading for Cebu City. Biñas immediately called Ylanan, informing him that Joavan was headed his way.
That’s when the encounter with the Cebu City police team happened.
An official of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) 7 said Sunday that there is a need to investigate the Talisay City Government for apparently allowing Joavan’s personal use of a government vehicle.
“Who approved the trip ticket? Who authorized the use of the vehicle? And for what purpose was its use?” asked Noval.
“Kadlawn?! (At dawn?!) Is that considered a proper time to use a government-issued vehicle? Unless he is a government executive with an official business, then that’s illegal,” added Noval.
But while Noval admitted the DILG cannot reprimand Fernandez on the alleged antics of his son, he said that Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has the authority to suspend the Talisay City mayor, if a formal complaint is filed at her office.
