Garins surrender 14 guns–5 less than on PNP list

FIREPOWER Two assault rifles and two machine pistols were among the weapons Iloilo Rep. Richard Garin Jr. and his father, Guimbal Mayor Oca Garin, were forced to surrender to the police, along with assorted ammunition, after the PNP canceled all their licenses to possess and carry firearms. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

ILOILO CITY—Iloilo Rep. Oscar “Richard” Garin Jr. and his father, Guimbal Mayor Oscar “Oca” Garin, on Friday surrendered more than a dozen firearms, including two semiautomatic rifles and two machine pistols, after the Philippine National Police canceled their gun permits for physically assaulting a police officer.

Iloilo Vice Gov. Christine Garin, a younger sister of the legislator, delivered the firearms to the Guimbal police station where they were received by Iloilo police director Senior Supt. Marlon Tayaba and other PNP officials.

The PNP on Thursday filed criminal and administrative complaints in the Office of the Ombudsman’s Iloilo field office for the unprovoked attack on PO3 Federico Macaya Jr. on Wednesday. The charges included physical injuries and serious illegal detention and abuse of authority.

President Duterte had earlier ordered criminal charges be filed against Garin and his father, his partymates in the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan.

Trust issue

Tayaba said the PNP also was preparing a separate ethics complaint against the lawmaker in the House of Representatives.

In Manila, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año told reporters on Friday that the National Police Commission, of which he is the ex-officio chair, would be meeting on the possible stripping of Mayor Garin’s supervisory authority over his town’s police force.

“We cannot entrust the PNP unit [in his hands] if we cannot be sure of his acts or behavior,” Año said.

The 14 firearms that the Garins turned over to the police were five less than the 19 they had between them, according to PNP records.

The PNP said three handguns belonging to Garin’s father were lost, leaving two firearms in the congressman’s name still to be accounted for.

Tayaba said Garin promised to find the two guns, including one high-powered rifle.

The congressman and his father also surrendered ammunition and magazines.

Permits canceled

PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde on Thursday canceled all the permits to possess and carry firearms of the two officials after they allegedly beat up Macaya, an investigator with the Guimbal police station, before dawn on Wednesday at the town plaza.

Garin, armed with a handgun, allegedly handcuffed Macaya before he repeatedly kicked, slapped and spat on the officer while berating him. His father also berated the policeman while pointing a gun at him.

Garin has apologized for his actions. He explained that he became extremely frustrated over Macaya’s failure to file a complaint against Vergil Gegato, a son of a Guimbal councilor, who allegedly struck another man during an altercation on Dec. 22 at the town plaza.

The victim, Noel Gicana, a son of an overseas Filipino worker, was injured when he was hit in the head by the beer bottle used by Gegato.

Garin also accused Macaya of persuading Gicana not to file a case against Gegato, whom he described as a “habitual delinquent.”

“What the policeman did is a betrayal of public trust and a clear abuse of his position. It was also contrary to the policy of the PNP,” Garin said in a statement.

Macaya denied the accusations.

He told the Inquirer that the congressman and his father ignored his explanation that Gicana decided not to file a case against Gegato because Gicana did not want to worry his mother abroad.

The PNP included two of the Garins’ civilian bodyguards in its criminal complaints and pulled out two police security escorts assigned to the legislator.

Albayalde has pushed for the removal of Mayor Garin’s powers over the local police. He said the PNP also was checking whether the Garins had hurt other police officers.

The entire 29-member police force has been replaced after most of the policemen said they did not want to be assigned in the town.

The town’s police chief, Senior Insp. Antonio Monreal, who disarmed Macaya before he was mauled by Garin, was relieved and is being investigated for allowing the incident to happen. —WITH A REPORT FROM JAYMEE T. GAMIL