4 aides to Parañaque exec nabbed in Quezon for firing guns

Parañaque Councilor Florencia Amurao   Photo from www.paranaque.gov.ph

LUCENA CITY, Quezon – Police arrested four security aides of a Parañaque city official for indiscriminate firing in San Antonio, Quezon on Friday evening.

Chief Inspector Edcille Canals, Quezon police media relation officer, said two residents of Barangay (village) Buliran in San Antonio filed complaints at the local police station around 7:30 p.m. on Friday after their houses were hit by stray bullets coming from their neighbor’s house.

Canals said Senior Insp. Fernando Reyes III, San Antonio police chief, led a police team to the neighborhood to investigate and “heard gunshots still being fired as they were approaching the place.” When the culprits saw the approaching policemen, they ran inside the house with their firearms.

They were later identified as Cayetano Racquel, 36, Jofiel Dagondong, 35,  Pablito Swelto Jr., 44,  and Jose Rosal, 43, all residents of Barangay Marcelo Green, Parañaque City.

The house they ran into was under construction and owned by Parañaque  Councilor Florencia Amurao but she was not around during the firing incident, Reyes said in a telephone interview.

Reyes said the suspects were “aides” of the councilor and were in San Antonio to butcher pigs for an occasion in Cavite.

Police recovered three empty shells from an M16 rifle; seven spent shells from an 9-mm  pistol; one empty shell from .45-caliber and one live bullet from a 9-mm outside the house. The police also recovered one M16 rifle, one 9-mm pistol, one .45-cal. pistol and one .22-cal. handgun from the suspects.

The firearms had no licenses, according to Reyes.

The suspects were detained at the San Antonio pending the filing of criminal complaints for illegal discharge of firearms and illegal possession of firearms, Reyes said.