Vet linked to Duterte slay plot charged

CIDG operatives arrested Wilford Palma and his boss Bryan Ta-ala last August 6 in bacolod City for selling smuggled gun parts from US. At a press conference Thursday, Palma said they sold several parts of M-16 rifles to a client who said he will use the guns to assassinate President Duterte. JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net

BACOLOD CITY—A veterinarian linked to a plot to assassinate President Duterte has been charged in court with trying to smuggle gun parts that would have been used in the plot.

Bryan Constantino Ta-ala, currently confined in a hospital for hypertension, was charged with violation of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act at the regional trial court (RTC).

Ta-ala was arrested on Aug. 6 at Villa Cristina Subdivision in the village of Tangub. A bail of P80,000 has been set for Ta-ala.

He has been charged with illegal possession of a Glock 9-mm pistol, two magazines and live ammunition.

In another case, also filed by the prosecutor’s office at the RTC, Ta-ala was charged with illegal possession of gun parts.

A bail of P120,000 was set for the second case which was linked to a plot to kill the President.

Ta-ala and another suspect in the smuggling case, Wilford Palma, were arrested on Aug. 6 by police in an operation against unlicensed firearms in Barangay Tangub.

Palma was brought by agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group  to the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame where he was presented to media by PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.