Yesterday, a Negros Occidental vice mayor and her husband were arrested after police allegedly found firearms and a sachet of suspected shabu (meth) inside a pickup truck they were riding.
According to an ABS-CBN report, Moises Padilla town Vice Mayor Ella Garcia-Yulo and her husband Felix Mathias Yulo III were stopped and inspected at a checkpoint at Crossing Magallon while on their way home to Bacolod City at around 6pm.
Chief Inspector Allan Reloj said that he stopped the car after he noticed a firearm on the vice mayor’s lap. They then inspected the vehicle and allegedly found three .45 caliber pistols, two grenades, and a sachet of suspected shabu inside the vehicle.
The vice mayor, however, said that the incident was politically-motivated harassment because Reloj was allegedly charged with abuse of authority and planting of evidence like drugs and firearms by people she is associated with.
She told Rappler about how police dragged her out of her car and that they got her bag after she refused to give it. She and her husband also showed ABS-CBN News bruises they allegedly got from the incident.
Yulo said that because their car was not locked, the police were able to open the door and reach out to get their car key.
The vice mayor said she plans to file harassment charges against police involved in the incident. Reloj has not issued a statement about Yulo’s allegations.
