Guv's men, retired cop's son entangle in traffic altercation
Expired gun permits, hot tempers flaring, special car plates and a siren took center stage in the news late Tuesday evening carried on till yesterday. This, as members of the local broadcast media feasted on a traffic story gone really wrong. To top it all, a top city cop was called “over-acting” by a top provincial official.
The cast of characters included two policemen and a prison guard serving as bodyguards of Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas Sr. On the other side of the story was the son of a retired Army colonel. Seemingly ‘caught in the crossfire’ was Police Chief Inspector Orly Gabinete, Jaro Police Office Station chief.
The entire brouhaha stemmed from a traffic incident along the stretch of Tabuc Suba, Jaro, Iloilo City. Lyle Tugbang Jr. on board his vehicle apparently cut-off the governor’s convoy earning the ire of the bodyguards. Tugbang Jr. was eventually stopped, his way blocked by the governor’s back-up vehicle where an altercation then took place.
Tugbang Jr. said he was accosted, weapons of the governor’s bodyguards displayed while one boarded his vehicle.
The matter ended up at the Jaro Police Station where the governor’s men reportedly continued to accost him in front of city cops present. When documents were asked by police probers relative to the weapons of the governor’s security, expired gun permits came to view.
On the side came an order from Chief Inspector Gabinete to confiscate the siren of the governor’s vehicle.
When interviewed, the governor went all the way to defend his men and went all the way to lambaste Chief Inspector Gabinete.
“Over-acting gid si Chief Inspector Gabinete… over-acting gid,” Governor Tupas repeatedly said over Bombo Radyo Iloilo.
As for the expired gun permits, Tupas was quick on the justification dragging the province’s top cop, Senior Superintendent Ricardo Dela Paz into the fray.
The governor said Dela Paz, Iloilo Provincial Police Office (IPPO) Director, has the papers to show that his men applied for current permits and licenses to carry weapons.
Tugbang Sr. when reached for comment said while he has no quarrel with the governor himself, he wants the governor’s men to be taught a lesson.
“Paano na lang kung natiruhan nila ang bata ko? (What if they gunned down my son?,” he said in a Bombo Radyo interview.
Meantime, yet more troubles for the prison guard in the governor’s close-in security.
Ariel Garcia Lumbo, reporter of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN), was himself accosted while reporting live inside the Jaro Police Station. Lumbo complained that the prison guard in question grabbed his phone and turned the unit off.
RMN senior anchorman Rhod Tecson had the matter told to the governor’s son, Barotac Viejo Mayor Raul Tupas. An assurance was then made by the mayor to have the complaint looked into.