Bogo City mayor, vice-mayor charged for grave coercion

The Office of the Ombudsman has filed a case of grave coercion against Bogo City, Cebu Mayor Celestino “Junie” Martinez Jr., his son Jose Carlo Martinez and Vice Mayor Santiago Sevilla, in connection with a standoff in one of the city’s voting precincts during the May 2010 elections.

In a case recently filed before the Sandiganbayan, the Office of the Ombudsman said Martinez father and his son as well as Sevilla, committed grave coercion or violation of Section 286 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) when they used their position in the city government to intimidate the camp of their political rivals, the Salimbangons.

Based on the information of the case, on May 10, 2010, the respondents prevented incumbent Cebu Rep. Benhur Salimbangon and his companions from leaving the premises of the Polambato Elementary School where the voting was then being held.

Salimbangon was, at that time, running as the 4th District Representative of Cebu against Martinez Jr.’s son Celetino “Tining” Martinez III.

The Ombudsman said the Martinezes and Sevilla had also ordered the armed members of the City of Bogo Anti-Crime Task Force (CBACTF) to block the Polambato Road to prevent the passage of the vehicles of Salimbangon and his companions, “and thereafter, by means of intimidation caused the search of their vehicle without a warrant and against their will.”

“It is clear that when the complainants were prevented from moving their vehicles within the area of Palombato Road in Bogo City and respondents searched the vehicles of the complainants, there was such a display of material force which necessarily produced intimidation, and in effect, controlled the will of the complainants,” Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said in a 2015 resolution finding probable cause to file the case against the respondents.

Under Article 286 of the Revised Penal Code, grave coercion is committed “when a person who, without authority of law, shall, by means of violence, prevent another from doing something not prohibited by law, or compel him to do something against his will, whether it be right or wrong.”

GMA News Online was trying to reach the Martinezes and Sevilla as of posting time.

Salimbangon is the current district chair of the Liberal Party (LP) in Cebu. He and Martinez Jr. are set to go against each other on May 9, 2016 elections for a Congressional seat as the 4th District Representative of Cebu. —ALG, GMA News