So far, inspection showed no policeman had fired his gun during holiday revelry
NORTHERN Police District Director (NPD) Chief Superintendent Antonio Decano has expressed satisfaction over police compliance with a Philippine National Police directive on the use of guns during the holiday revelry.
Decano told the Inquirer that of around 200 policemen whose service firearms were inspected Monday morning at the main headquarters in Caloocan City, none was found to have fired his gun to celebrate the new year.
“There were no problems during our inspection,” Decano said when sought for comment.
Earlier, PNP Director General Nicanor Bartolome ordered the strict enforcement of the gun firing ban during the holidays.
To ensure that the prohibition is complied with, Bartolome himself led the annual taping of the muzzles of police firearms in Camp Crame.
A broken tape found upon inspection after New Year could be an indication that the firearm was used during the holiday revelry.
During the ceremony in Quezon City, the PNP chief said that those found to have violated the prohibition would be dismissed from the service.
Tapes intact
Decano said the inspection showed that the tapes on the muzzles of the firearms of the first batch of policemen who reported for duty remained intact.
He added, however, that the service guns of a second batch of around 300 policemen have yet to be inspected.
Tuesday will be the first time they will report for duty after the New Year, so that’s when we can check those, Decano said.
Earlier, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo instructed NPD officials to investigate the alleged indiscriminate firing by a precinct commander assigned in Valenzuela City.
Paraffin testing
The allegations were contained in a text message sent anonymously to the PNP Chief Directorial Staff.
As a result, Senior Inspector Arsenio “Boyet” Francisco of PCP4 in Barangay (village) Malinta was subjected to paraffin testing.
Later in the day, the NPD Crime Lab released the results of the test. Francisco’s hands tested negative for gunpowder.
The repeated warnings against indiscriminate firing have proven useful then, Decano told the Inquirer.
He added that the number of stray bullet incidents reported in the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela, had “gone down,” from 60 cases in the previous New Year celebration, to 35 in the recent one.
In Manila, the service firearms of officers from the Special Weapons and Tactics unit of the Manila Police District (MPD) were unsealed on
Monday morning at their headquarters on UN Avenue.
Superintendent Dominador Arevalo Jr., commander of the MPD’s District Public Safety Battalion, said that they took off the tapes covering the barrels of their policemen’s firearms as per directive from Bartolome.
Superintendent Edgar Ferrater, who was also part of the party of police officials who led the inspection, said that lawmen whose service firearms were found unmuzzled ahead of the inspection would be investigated as to when and why they used their guns despite orders from the PNP leadership.
No unsealed guns
He said that they have not found any officer from the MPD with unsealed guns so far.
Ferrater, however, mentioned that Police Officer 1 Fulgencio Sideco of the National Capital Region Police Office was under investigation after he was accused of indiscriminate firing on Christmas night in Tondo, Manila.
Sideco was not their officer but the MPD would conduct an investigation since he was accused of firing his gun in Manila, Ferrater explained.
Arevalo said policemen whose firearms were used before the inspection would be asked to explain.—With a report from Karen Boncocan, Inquirer.net
