Japanese spends two night in jail in Cebu for acting “wild,” says police

By Ronron
March 25, 2008

A Japanese national spent two nights in jail at a Cebu police station over the weekend after acting “wild” at the pension house where he was temporarily billeted and while on board a taxi, police said Tuesday.

The 42-year-old Japanese was first apprehended by police on Saturday afternoon hours after his arrival from Japan upon the complaint of a 24-year-old waitress at the restaurant of Mactan Pension House in Lapu-lapu City.

The Japanese reportedly threw at Viernes’ face some money bills that he tore apart after finding out that the bill for his lunch meal was too high.

Police said the Japanese thought his food was only worth 400 pesos. But he was surprised to learn that he was being charged with more or less 600 pesos.

The Japanese’ outrage reportedly bothered other guests at the restaurant, prompting the staff to seek police assistance.

The Japanese, who was described to be behaving abnormally and apparently not in his normal state of mind, was taken to the police station at around 2:50 pm.

He was supposed to be charged with slander by deed, and alarm and scandal, but Viernes opted not to pursue a legal action, the police said.

Thus, at 6:42 am of the following day, he was released from the detention cell of the Lapu-lapu City Police Office.

However, he returned there at around 11 am after the driver of the cab he was riding complained of his “abnormal and wild behavior.”

Ronie Cabilao, driver of CITRASCO taxi, told police that the Japanese hired him at around 8am at Pier 6 in Cebu City for a trip to Barangay Banilad. But when they arrived there, the Japanese wanted to be brought to the airport.

The Japanese reportedly turned wild again after learning that Cabilao cannot take him to the “Manila airport.” He reportedly grabbed the shirt of Cabilao and kept on pulling the hand brake.

At one point also, while still on the taxi, the Japanese took off all his clothes and just covered his face with newspaper.

Because of his behavior, the Japanese was brought back to the Lapu-lapu City Police Office by Cabilao.

The situation got worse there when the Japanese kicked the bumper of the taxi after alighting, causing it to deform. Cabilao told police that the Japanese got mad all the more apparently because he charged the Japanese more than the 1,000-pesos that he handed as payment for the trip.

The Japanese insisted he gave the driver 5,000-pesos, which the latter denied, the police said.

And with the damage to the taxi, Cabilao demanded an additional 10,000-pesos from the Japanese, which the latter refused to give. At this time, Cabilao decided to charge him for coercion and malicious mischief.

Thus, the Japanese was detained again until Monday morning when he agreed to pay 10,000 pesos to the driver as settlement with the help of a Japanese interpreter hired by city police chief Supt. Louie Oppus.

At 10 am of March 24, the Japanese was released from detention and was escorted by elements of the city police to the Consular Office of Japan in Cebu City.

However, the Consular Office refused to accept the Japanese as they reportedly feared he would behave wildly, the police said.

They brought him to the Immigration Office in Mandaue City, but was rejected also for the reason that he has not violated any Immigration laws.

So, the Japanese was brought back to the Lapu-lapu City Police Office where Oppus decided that he be flown back to Japan for his own safety, considering that he reportedly has some 500,000-pesos cash in various currencies (dollar, won, yen, and euro).

The police then escorted the Japanese to the Waterfront Hotel across the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in the same city so he can take the flight back to Japan the following day.

“We were instructed by our chief of police, Col. Oppus, to make sure that he is well-guarded because people might take advantage of him, especially because he was bringing huge amount of money,” said PO3 Christian Torres of the Lapu-lapu City Police Office Investigation Branch.

At around 6am yesterday (Tuesday), Torres and other elements of the Lapu-lapu City Police Office returned to the Waterfront Hotel to make sure that the Japanese is able to ride the Philippine Airlines flight to Narita, which he actually did at 8am.

Torres said the Japanese has no family in Japan, and only lives with his mother who owns apartments./DMS