Gun, ammo found in NDFP consultant’s home

MANILA, Philippines — A team of police and military operatives recovered a firearm, explosives and “subversive” documents from a house once allegedly occupied by National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Renante Gamara, who was arrested in Imus, Cavite province, on March 20.

The raid, conducted before dawn on Friday, was announced by the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) over the weekend.

It said the house on Chrysanthemum Street at Barangay Barangka in Marikina City had been used by Gamara and a certain Ryan Dizon, whom the police also claimed was the homeowner.

Members of the NCRPO-Regional Special Operations Unit (RSOU), Philippine National Police Special Action Force and Armed Forces of the Philippines implemented the raid which yielded, among others, subversive documents, two hand grenades, a 9mm pistol and live ammunition.

Cases of violation of Republic Acts No. 10591 and 9516 — related to the illegal possession of firearms and explosives — would be filed against Gamara, who was currently detained in the RSOU custodial facility, and Dizon, who was at large.

The police said the search stemmed from its arrest of Gamara and a retired priest, Arturo Balagat. The Department of Justice had approved the filing of charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against the two men.

Lawyer Kristina Conti of the Public Interest Law Center, which is representing Gamara, decried the charges against him as “all lies.”

The police had insisted that Gamara was a high-ranking member of the Communist Party of the Philippines, an accusation Conti denied. His work as a peace consultant for the NDFP, she said, was due to his longstanding work with trade unions.