The revolutionary character of what is now known as Mayor Che is put to the test again, this time, when she traded barbs with a retired general in an on-air spectacle with the back and forth lasting for three days. The center of gravity was the top-rated radio program “Cuentas Claras” over Station DYTR where for three days last week Carmen Mayor Che Toribio de los Reyes exchanged incendiary rhetoric against an equally combative retired general in lawyer Alberto Olario. As she is popularly known these days as Mayor Che, as if relishing the tag as a throwback to the Bolivian revolutionary named Che Guevarra, the never-say-die mayor of Carmen tangled with the retired military man in an explosive issue involving security guards employed by the Al Nino Security Agency of which the retired general owned. Mayor Che Toribio de los Reyes is fast gaining popularity because of her revolutionary ways of running the affairs of the town. Her penchant to lead pursuit operations against lawless elements operating in Carmen and neighbouring towns earns her the complimentary moniker “Mayor Che”.

FIRST BAPTISM OF FIRE

With Mayor Che graduating from being a “never heard mayor” to a sought-after newsmaker, the on-air word war with a retired general was the lady mayor’s first baptism of fire as she parried verbal blows from her adversary who is an eloquent lawyer by any standard. But not to be outdone in the fierce verbal exchange, Mayor Che held her ground in the best tradition of a seasoned politician who knows her ABC in a seesaw battle of tirades. The fiery swap of inflammatory barbs over the airlanes was provoked by the apprehension of the mayor’s men of two security guards who were claimed by the apprehending police team led by Police Inspector Ceasar Accompanado, Carmen police chief, as having no licenses. The arrest was enough motivation by general Olario to cry foul citing Mayor Che as having pulled off the arrest without benefit of any legitimate basis.

The general even branded Mayor Che as “ignorant of the law for violating the human rights of the security guards”. But the fighting mayor was in no mood to call it quits. She lashed back at the retired general as a liar, calling him unprintable names. While the combative personalities were caught in a back and forth of scathing remarks, the apprehending officers brought the conflict to the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office where two counts of illegal possession of firearms were filed against the Al Nino security guards. One Julius Nuez Taray was sued for illegal possession of low-powered firearm and ammunition while the other one identified as Security Guard Pablo Cloma Uyamot, Jr. for illegal possession of high-powered firearm and ammunition. The first count was for illegal possession of a 38 cal revolver while the long firearm was identified as a shotgun. Complainants of both counts was Inspector Accompanado.

CASES DISMISSED

In an inquest resolution, Provincial Prosecutor Macario Delusa found the complaint without merit as the two respondents were found to have possessed the necessary licenses of the two firearms in question. According to Prosecutor Delusa, who was also interviewed during the same radio program, the case was dismissed during the inquest proceedings because it was established that the firearms in the possession of the guards were licensed at the time of their arrest and they were deployed with corresponding Detailed Orders from their Security Agency (DOSA). But Mayor Che was unconvinced. She claimed that the case dismissal was railroaded by the provincial prosecutor as an accommodation to the general who “raised” his voice during the inquest proceedings. The lady mayor suspected that the fiscal was intimidated by Olario’s presence in the prosecutor’s office. Delusa, however, denied that he was pressured by Olario adding that under the circumstance he has no reason to hold accountable the accused of the crime charged.

Olario countered however, that the prosecutor was only doing his job to dismiss the case after knowing that there was no illegal possession of firearms because he was able to present the license of the firearms during the inquest investigation. Unconvinced, Mayor Che said she is elevating her case against the prosecutor’s dismissal of the case to a superior authority like the Department of Justice (DOJ). Asked why she questioned the resolution of the prosecutor, the Carmen mayor said her insistence was based on the premise that at the time of the arrest by her men in barangay Villahermoso, the security guards were not able to present the licenses of their firearms. Besides, she said, the arrest was also effected because the guards were not in uniform at the time of the arrest which was a major violation.