Lawmaker says gun was left at store

New Bilibid Prison. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Guimaras Rep. Joaquin Carlos Rahman Nava denied knowing convicted drug lord Peter Co and said a gun store was responsible for the gun registered in his name ending up in a hidden compartment of Co’s quarters at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

“I do not know Peter Co, I have not met him.” Nava told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Saturday.

Nava said he left the Walther PPK registered under his name at the gun store Nashe at Makati Cinema Square last year “for repair, because its lower receiver was broken.”

He had a copy of the acknowledgment receipt dated July 17, 2013, he added.

“I do not how the gun ended up with Co and I have asked the gun store how it happened, but I was not able to get an answer,” Nava said, adding that he was told the person to whom he had entrusted the gun “had left the store.”

Nava said he was told that the gun would be sent to Germany for replacement but that it would take time. He has the original copy of the gun’s license, he said.

The Guimaras representative said he bought two more firearms from the same gun store because he knew the owners, who came from his province. Nancy C. Carvajal