Bullet holes on COA building caused by stray bullets, police say

Office of the Commission on Audit   PHOTO FROM https://www.coa.gov.ph/

MANILA—Bullet holes on the windows of the Commission on Audit building in Quezon City  that fuelled speculation they were meant to scare the agency in its continuing audit of legislators’ pork barrel funds may have likely been caused by stray bullets fired during a shooting incident nearby early Wednesday morning, police said.

Quezon City Police District director Chief Supt. Richard Albano told the Inquirer that the discovery of the bullet holes on the second-floor windows of the COA building on Commonwealth Avenue was reported to the Batasan Hills police station at around 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Police Officer 1 Jason Tolentino, a radio operator at the QCPD Batasan Hills station, said he received the information from a patrol unit.

“Our policeman on the field initially said that he was not sure if the windows had holes because stones had been thrown at them or if they had been caused by a strafing,” he told the Inquirer.

Albano said that when policemen were sent to the COA building to look into the matter, the investigators found a slug among the shards of glass inside the office of director Nilda Plaras  of the COA risk management and budget office.

Another slug, the QCPD director said, was recovered in the pantry beside Plaras’ office, the window of which also had a hole. Both are on the second floor of the COA building.

“Gunfire was heard as early as 7 a.m. but nobody realized that bullets had hit the COA building until several hours later,” Albano pointed out.

According to the QCPD director the search for witnesses led investigators to the caretaker of a KTV Bar just across the street from the COA building who said there was a shooting incident in the area around 7 a.m. involving two men on a  motorcycle.

“He (witness) said that the armed men had fired several times at another man but completely missed their target and sped away,” Albano told the Inquirer, adding that the time of the incident as well as the trajectory of the bullets were consistent with the bullet holes on the COA building.

“It seems the COA was not really the target,” Albano said. He added, however, that the investigation was continuing.

He said that the witness had counted at least four shots. Two missed the target while the other two were warning shots fired by the gunmen to discourage pursuit by bystanders.

In a statement coursed through the COA’s public information officer Robert Balago, the commission’s chair Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan said, “The reported shooting incident in the COA premises this morning is currently under investigation by the police. We do not wish to preempt the investigation, so let us wait for the results of the investigation.”

She added:  “In any case, we will not allow this incident to cow us into silence nor deter us from faithfully discharging our constitutional duty. We owe this to God and the Filipino people. Please pray for the safety of every man and woman in the commission and for continued courage and integrity.”