ON TARGET
Gun in Esmeralda ambush ‘fake’
By Ramon TulfoPhilippine Daily Inquirer
The Olympic Arms M-16 automatic rifle allegedly used in the ambush of NBI Deputy Director Reynaldo Esmeralda probably was not made by the US company, but assembled in the country, according to a source in the local gun industry.
In short, it’s a fake.
The source said the gun was probably assembled using fake Bushmaster and Colt parts, with the other parts made in China or stolen from armories of the Armed Forces.
The assembler is a company in Muntinlupa City, according to my source.
The firm was able to license fake Olympic Arms M-16 rifles in cahoots with some insiders at the Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the past, said my source.
In fact, some of firm’s sales managers for the fake Olympic Arms were allegedly FEO insiders.
The Bushmaster guns that were confiscated from the Ampatuans after the Maguindanao massacre did not come from the US, but from the Muntinlupa company, the source added.
Why doesn’t the NBI investigate this gun company?
* * *
In the Inquirer’s Letters section yesterday, reader David Steinberg said he did not believe I was asking President Noy to show mercy to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Steinberg said I used as an example dictator Ferdinand Marcos who allowed the late Sen. Ninoy Aquino, a convicted prisoner, to go to the United States for medical treatment.
Steinberg was referring to the On Target column on June 23 where I said that moving GMA (Arroyo’s initials), a former President, to a regular jail would not be good for the country’s image.
Where in the column did I say that GMA should be shown mercy?
What I said was for the government to respect Gloria because of her former lofty position in the government.
The GMA administration accorded Erap (former President Joseph Estrada’s monicker), who was charged with plunder, due respect by having him stay at his rest house in Tanay, Rizal province, instead of a regular jail.
Showing respect to a former leader, no matter how bad you think he or she is, is the mark of an educated and a cultured person.
Steinberg sounds like he’s a foreigner, most probably a Caucasian, and I’m surprised at his interest in the political affairs of his host country.
Most foreigners in Angeles City – Steinberg’s given address and home to many Caucasians – are frequent patrons of bars and nightclubs. Steinberg, however, was of a different breed, and took time out to give his two cents worth.
Is Steinberg for real or an assumed name of one of P-Noy’s (President Benigno Aquino III’s monicker) rabid defenders?
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Tags: Arms , David Steinberg , Metro , NBI Deputy Director Reynaldo Esmeralda. Government , On Target , Ramon Tulfo
