DILG doesn’t tolerate abuse, to probe complaint vs municipal mayor
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said it does not tolerate incidents of abuse among local chief executives and vowed to investigate the complaint filed by the family of a minor who was reportedly slapped and punched in front of a public terminal in Leyte.
The DILG said it will look into the complaint lodged by the family of a 17-year-old minor who accused Matag-Ob, Leyte Mayor Bernardino Tacoy for slapping and punching the teenager three times in the face and abdomen on the early morning of December 2, 2023.
This development came after a medico-legal certificate issued by Kanangga Municipal Hospital attending physician Sharon Awit in the afternoon of the incident showed that the victim, only identified as “John,” obtained contusion at the right maxillary area and contusion-bruises at the right upper part of his abdomen.
The DILG may summon and seek explanation from the mayor.
The victim’s father, Ronald Pedrano, told Matag-Ob Police Station officer-in-charge Police Captain Amado Castillo Jr. and duty investigator Police Chief Master Sergeant Gregg Ramirez that the incident occurred at around 1 a.m. infront of the public terminal located at Barangay Talisay, Matag-ob.
The older Pedrano claimed that “a certain Bernardino Tacoy, municipal mayor, grabbed the T-shirt of his son, then slapped the face of the teener, then followed a punch on his right side abdomen thrice… thus inflicting (on) victim physical injuries.”
The mayor’s bodyguards allegedly held the victim while the local executive punched him in the stomach.
The victim told police that the mayor must have mistaken him as one of the teenagers who started a fight during a disco event in the area.
The victim’s father said “my son is now experiencing trauma and refuses to go to school. We are also fearful that our lives will be in danger since the person that we have complained about is the mayor of our municipality.”
The Pedranos are from Barangay Cansoso in Matag-ob, Leyte.
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