MAULING A MASSEUR. A closed circuit television footage from a massage parlor along Fuente Osmeña Rotunda, Cebu City shows Clarin, Misamis Occidental Mayor David Navarro pulling the hand of alleged mauling victim John Dueñas, a 23-year old masseur. Navarro, who was included in the 2016 narco-list of President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested inside the Mactan Cebu International Airport while about to board his flight back to Mindanao. (Screengrab from CCTV footage courtesy of Romeo Marantal)
CEBU CITY – Clarin, Misamis Occidental Mayor David Navarro, who was named by President Rodrigo Duterte as a narco-politician in 2016, was arrested in Mactan Cebu International Airport on Thursday afternoon for allegedly mauling a masseur.
Major Eduard Sanchez, chief of Cebu City Police Station 2 (Abellana Police Station), said the police arrested Navarro around 4 p.m. on Thursday at the airport just before he could board a flight back to his province.
The police brought the mayor to the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office for inquest proceedings. He was accused of mauling 23-year old therapist John Dueñas inside a massage parlor along Fuente Osmeña Rotunda on Wednesday night.
Police probers said Navarro got mad when the massage parlor attendant told him there was no available female massage therapist when he asked for one. He allegedly offered to pay PHP500 to PHP1,000 if any male therapist around would fight with him.
Dueñas emerged from a room after hearing the commotion when two of Navarro's aides allegedly held him while he mauled him.
According to the police, a female therapist who was requested to attend to Navarro also complained that the mayor allegedly forced her to perform “illegally something lewd” on his genitals.
The closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage on the mauling incident involving the mayor circulated on social media. Sanchez said they would use the CCTV footage they got from the massage parlor as evidence against Navarro.
Navarro came to Cebu for a seminar.
After Duterte named him as among the 44 personalities on the narco-list but Pagadian listed as his address, Navarro denied his involvement in the illegal drug trade and presented himself to then Philippine National Police (PNP) chief now Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to clear his name.
In a report posted on the Mindanaoan Broadcasting Channel Facebook page, Navarro claimed he lived in Pagadian 20 years ago. He moved to Clarin and became a municipal councilor for three years and mayor for nine years.
Navarro served as board member in the second district of Misamis Occidental for three years from 2013 to 2016, before he got elected mayor of Clarin.
In May 2017, the National Police Commission stripped Navarro and a mayor from Zamboanga del Norte of their deputation because of “intelligence information that they are involved in the illegal drugs trade”.
The police will file a physical injury case against Navarro, as Dueñas expressed his willingness to pursue the case. (PNA)
