Armed POGO kidnappers alarm senators
INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Two senators on Tuesday expressed alarm over the arrest of Chinese workers for alleged kidnap-for-ransom activities after the suspects yielded illegal guns and explosives.
At the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, Senators Ronald Dela Rosa and JV Ejercito called on the Philippine National Police to step up its investigation of the kidnapping incidents, even if the number of cases had dropped since the start of the Senate investigations last year.
“Based on that video footage, which showed Chinese suspects shooting their fellow Chinese with high-powered firearms, we can surmise that there is a proliferation of illegal firearms being sold to Chinese nationals,” said Dela Rosa, Senate public order committee chair.
Dela Rosa was reminded of video footage shown at last year’s committee hearing just as he was shown photos of Chinese nationals who were suspects in a Dec. 12 kidnap incident, which Sen. Grace Poe exposed in a Dec. 14 privilege speech.
The Senate committee resumed its investigation of the social costs of the country’s hosting of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), as Poe’s exposé seemed to contradict the PNP’s claim that no kidnap incidents have been reported since September 2022.
In his report, Police Col. Byron Tabernilla, former Pasay City police chief, said two Chinese POGO workers, Jia He Zhang, 28, and Yun Gao, 29, were arrested on Dec. 19 for possession of unlicensed guns.
Photos of the suspects’ handguns caught the attention of Dela Rosa, a known gun aficionado.
“These are not members of an ordinary organized crime syndicate based on their firearms … Kimber — that is the most expensive kind of handgun. That is very expensive. The other one, a CZ 75, is primarily used for shooting drills,” he said.
Kimber is reportedly an American brand of handguns and rifles, while the CZ 75 is a semiautomatic pistol made by Czech firearm manufacturer ČZUB.
Dela Rosa was alarmed over the PNP’s confirmation that the firearms seized from the Chinese suspects were not in the PNP’s Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) registry.
“We have a serious problem. How on earth did these Chinese manage to get these guns that are not in our registry? One day we might wake up to find these gun-wielding Chinese rising in our midst and declaring that the Philippines is theirs,” he said.
He expressed dismay over the PNP’s seeming lack of control over the entry of firearms into the country.
“This is a moneyed syndicate based on the firearms that they are carrying. How could they buy these expensive guns without a record with the FEO? Could these guns be smuggled?” Dela Rosa said.
The senator urged the PNP to trace the original owners of the guns on suspicion that the firearms’ serial numbers had been tampered.
