Have gun will…Mayor Prospero Esquivel faces off with his rival’s supporters. YouTube grab/CTTO
JAEN, Nueva Ecija – The mayor ousted by a Commission on Elections order but holding on to his post has been reportedly caught on video along with his men brandishing high-powered firearms and pointing them at the direction of his rival’s supporter on Monday.
Nueva Ecija police director Col. Marvin Joe Saro has ordered an investigation on reports that sitting Mayor Antonio Prospero Esquivel along with his son Tony and some other men carried guns in facing off supporters of reinstated Mayor Sylvia Austria near the gate of the municipal compound on Jan. 25.
The incident was caught on video and posted on the social media platform YouTube.
In one part of the video, Esquivel was shown as “apparently holding a firearm” while talking to Col. Gerald Licyayo, deputy provincial police director for operations, and Austria’s counsel Dominic Garin.
Esquivel for his part reportedly told the police that someone from Austria’s camp was “out to kill” them.
“Ang sabi ko sa chief of police, sa ground commander na imbestigahan, magkalap ng ebidensiya,” Saro said, adding that they will be ready to file complaints if warranted.
“Habang wala pa yung guidance ng DILG, higher headquarters, imi-maintain natin ang peace and order,“he vowed.
In his report, town police chief Major Baltazar Corpuz said Esquivel and his son who is municipal administrator along with supporters descended “from the mayor’s office wherein both of them each carried long high–powered firearm which created tension at the place.”
At least two news correspondents that covered the dialogue between the camps of Esquivel and Garin at the walkway in that incident on Monday also reported being harassed by people supposedly from the camp of Esquivel.
Ariel Avendaño of Manila Bulletin said an unidentified man hit him at the back of his head while Journal group’s Steve Gosuico said a woman poked with her fingers his mobile phone while asking him to delete the videos.
On Tuesday, Esquivel personally apologized to Avendaño, saying he had reprimanded the man.
These incidents happened when Garin and some local officials tried to serve the sangguniang bayan resolutions that acknowledged Austria as the legitimate mayor of Jaen.
Saro said the augmentation force of a hundred policemen will remain in the vicinity of the town hall until the Department of Interior and Local Government comes up with a guidance in connection with the order of the Comelec Second Division to reinstate Austria.
Austria’s counsel Garin welcomed the decision of the PNP to investigate the incident. But he believes it would not require an in-depth one since many people saw the Esquivels with guns. “Andun din ako, nakita ko rin. At kahit yung mga pulis, nakita nila,” he said.
Esquivel is reportedly holding on to the mayoralty on the ground that the Comelec temporary restraining order and status quo ante order cannot supersede the RTC decision in favor of his election protest.
He also laughed off the SB resolutions.
