The group of presidential bet Ka Leody de Guzman witnessed a series of gunshots fired just as members of the Manobo tribe unfurled a white flag to show that they came in peace in an ancestral land in Bukidnon. Image from David D’Angelo
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police is looking at possible administrative and criminal charges to be filed against the private guards who fired guns at the group of presidential candidate Leody de Guzman and a group of Manobo-Pulangihon indigenous tribe members in Bukidnon province on Tuesday.
In a radio interview on Thursday, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the Northern Mindanao regional unit of the PNP Civil Security Group (CSG), which regulates firearms, explosive and private security industries, on Wednesday inspected the security guards employed by the Kiantig Development Corp. “to determine possible administrative and criminal liability.”
“Part of our investigation is to identify who among these security personnel were on duty that time and who were armed with guns,” Fajardo said, noting that the agency was cooperating with the police.
After the inspection, the regional CSG unit recovered eight shotguns, two 9mm pistols and a 38-caliber pistol, which would be examined to determine which of these were fired on Tuesday where five people were injured.
The PNP investigation would also confirm if the firearms of the security personnel have the proper licenses, and if they have a certificate of authority issued by the Commission on Elections exempting them from the gun ban during the election period.
According to Fajardo, the PNP would also probe the De Guzman camp’s claim that some of the security guards who fired at them were wearing fatigue uniforms similar to those worn by the police and military.
The unauthorized use of uniforms of the police and military is prohibited under Article 179 of the Revised Penal Code.
Based on the initial investigation of the PNP, the shooting incident was prompted by the “surreptitious entry” of De Guzman’s camp and members of the Manobo tribe in a portion of the 995-hectare land in Sitio Kiantig in Quezon municipality.
The disputed land was being claimed both by Kiantig Development Corp., which was reportedly managed by Quezon Mayor Pablo Lorenzo III, and the Manobo community who said it was part of their ancestral domain.
De Guzman, along with senatorial aspirants Roy Cabonegro and David D’Angelo, visited members of the Manobo-Pulangihon indigenous people on Tuesday as part of their campaign sortie. They accompanied the Manobos as they occupied a portion of the land of a pineapple plantation when they were shot by still unidentified gunmen past noon.
Several minutes of the continuous shots fired toward their group was caught on a Facebook Live broadcast of D’Angelo.
Before the incident, D’Angelo showed people alongside a white flag planted in a field which, he said, symbolized the Manobos’ peaceful claim over their land.
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