BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) has also launched an investigation into last week’s manhandling and robbery of Councilor Cleo Gaudite of Bago City, Negros Occidental.
In an interview with DYHB RMN-Bacolod yesterday morning, Councilor Al Victor Espino, who chairs the SP committee on police matters, said he talked to Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) director Police Colonel Manuel Placido.
Espino said they wanted to know what really happened on May 26 and to confirm if the incident was a new “modus operandi” of criminals in the city.
The city councilor said they wanted to solve the case immediately not because the victim was an elected official but because they wanted to prevent similar incidents.
He also left a stern message to the robbers involved in the incident, stating they would soon be brought to justice.
Last week, Gaudite was leaving a popular coffee shop along Lacson Street in Bacolod City when two young men, described by police to be in their teens, shoved Gaudite inside his vehicle and ordered him to drive to a nearby motel.
Upon entering Room No. 56, the men reportedly mauled Gaudite and took his valuables, including his P7,000 cash. The men used Gaudite’s car as a getaway vehicle.
Gaudite’s car was later found abandoned along the Circumferential Road in Barangay Villamonte here.
Although he has yet to publicly address the incident, Gaudite is cooperating with the authorities, police said./PN
