Eastern Visayas Media Without Borders
by Miriam G Desacada
Tacloban City–Councilman Randolph Taguik Hinampas of Barangay Zone 5 in Sogod, Southern Leyte, filed criminal complaints against nine members of a municipal task force and two police officers for robbery, coercion, and malicious mischief, when they allegedly robbed or took forcibly, his 13 units of PISO WIFI equipment., The charges were filed before the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of Southern Leyte, promulgated on 30 October 2025, under NPS Docket No. VIII-07a-INV-251-00098.The Provincial Prosecutor of Southern Leyte, after perusal of the presented evidence, resolved and approved the filing in court of 13 counts of robbery against the task force members, namely: Juvany Abarico, Frederick L. Bernadas, Randy Cabudbud, Frederick T. Lareta, Ronald Lamoste, Pablito T. Navarra Jr., Ferdinand Mariano, Arnel S. Terante, and Ransel Dave T. Mag-aso.The resolution, signed by Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Gwen Manuel P. Santiago, and approved by Deputy Provincial Prosecutor (OIC) Edgardo C. Solon Jr., also recommended bail of P72,000 for each count of robbery per accused member of the Task Force.However, for lack of prima facie evidence, the prosecution dismissed the complaints against the two police officers: Police/Staff Sgt. Wulfredo P. Rey Jr., and P/Cpl Ryan Saligue, who were only at the area, upon orders of Sogod Police chief, P/Lt. Col. Dexter Edillo, to maintain peace and order.ROBBERY INCIDENTIn his complaint-affidavit, Hinampas stated that at 9 a.m. on July 4, the respondents—wearing t-shirts with the words “Task Force Sogod”—went to a house in Zone 5 where his PISO WIFI box was attached to the wall outside. They used bolt cutters to break the lock and forcibly removed the box from its fixed position, loading it into the cargo area of a waiting police multi-cab. In the next video footage, the councilman tried to stop the group and demanded that they have a written order for their actions. They blurted out that what they have is a copy of a municipal ordinance that declares that any PISO WIFI installation in the barangay is not allowed, if it has no permit from the LGUThe team continued removing the other PISO WIFI boxes, disregarding Hinampas’ protestation. Their leader, identified as Juvany Abarico, insisted they were only enforcing the ordinance against those PISO WIFIs that do not have permits. He even dared Hinampas that, if he has any complaint against the task force, he should file it at the LGU office or file a case in court.The group then went to the next house, where another PISO WIFI box was installed, and similarly took that box. They moved on to other houses and did the same. Ultimately, they forcibly took a total of 13 PISO WIFI boxes belonging to the councilman. A resident commented that it was like harvesting products that do not belong to them. Some residents also recorded videos of the incident, which even went viral. Hinampas said the damage to all his 13 PISO WIFI units, plus the coins these boxes contained, amounted to P186,000. In his supplemental affidavit, dated 14 October 2025, he said the cost of each unit is around P12,000 and the coins inside each unit is roughly estimated at P2,307.The councilman described the incident as a robbery, which the prosecutor’s office conceded as one, based on its supplemental resolution that states: “Robbery is committed when a person shall take personal property belonging to another with intent to gain, by means of violence against or intimidation of any person, using force upon anything.”RESPONDENTS VS. COMPLAINANT.
The Task Force personnel, in their answer to the prosecution, denied the accusation of robbery, defending their action as implementation of Municipal Ordinance 2024-310 (PISO WIFI Ordinance), and what they did was under the authority of the ordinance, and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), which, by the way, was only formulated lately.In their reply-affidavit, dated 20 October 2025, the respondents reiterated that they confiscated the WIFI machines “in good faith,” being the Task Force enforcing the ordinance.Hinampas, however, said the ordinance, which requires a permit for every PISO WIFI box business, was only passed last year, and its IRR was only crafted this year, and has not been published yet in any paper, as mandated by law.Besides, the ordinance only provides for the payment of fines, as penalties after warnings for the first offense, the second offense, and so forth. The ordinance has no order to confiscate any units, he argued.The prosecution further concluded, in its resolution, that the provisions of the IRR, mandating confiscation, went beyond the scope of the ordinance’s provision, which did not mention any act of confiscation. Granting that it did, an act of confiscation can only be done “after due notice and hearing,” in court, ruled the prosecution.The prosecution found that “there was no notice and hearing afforded to the complainant. Acting with force and intimidation, they (respondents) broke and forcibly destroyed locks securing the PISO WIFI, seized all 13 units against the consent of the complainant.”Thus, “the respondents acted beyond their authority,” and that the “legal presumption of regularity in the performance of official duty does not lie,” added the prosecution.POLITICAL HARASSMENT?Making matters worse, Hinampas was later suspended from the barangay council, justifying such action was reached because the councilman violated a municipal ordinance.The councilman countered, however, that out of the thousands of PISO WIFI units in Sogod, similarly without permits, only his items were targeted and removed. “Ang sa akin lang talaga ang kinuha,” said the dejected councilman, who eventually realized that this was all “political harassment.”He said that the incumbent mayor has, for two decades in politics, never experienced a “close fight” in the elections; it only happened in the recent May 2025 polls where he was nearly subdued by a strong mayoralty candidate, retired military general Camilo Ligayo.“I had been the incumbent’s supporter in the past, but this year, I shifted my political backing to Ligayo, which resulted in his (incumbent) first-time defeat—a big loss really—in our barangay,” said councilman Hinampas. This clearly hit a nerve in the incumbent’s public image, he added.After the elections and confirmation of victory, even if the incumbent won, “harassment against me were on a roll until now, carried out with raids against my business,” said the councilman. “Yes, this is all due to politics,” he stressed, while pondering on the damage this harassment had wrought on his business and even his seat in the barangay, as a public servant. —Miriam G. Desacada
