Palace: Llamas ready to face police probe
Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas is ready to face any investigation by the Philippine National Police (PNP) after an assault rifle was found inside his sport utility vehicle (SUV) while he was abroad, Malacañang said on Friday.
“(What) crime can you charge someone who is not here when that incident happened. Nonetheless he is willing to undergo investigation if that’s what PNP wanted. That’s not a problem for Secretary Llamas,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.
Llamas was attending a United Nations conference abroad when his staff figured in a road accident while in the Mitsubishi Montero.
But Lacierda said the revocation of Llamas’ permit to carry the rifle seen inside his SUV was just “temporary.”
“It was just because the firearm is part of the case,” Lacierda said in a telephone interview.
Cleared by Palace
Malacañang earlier indicated that Llamas had no liability in the firearm being carried outside his residence since he wasn’t around.
“(Llamas) was in Geneva. If you want to speak of a criminal case, he was in Geneva. (The) AK-47 was found in his car and there were clear instructions for the two individuals to leave it at home,” Lacierda said earlier this week.
On Thursday, Llamas voluntarily surrendered the high-powered firearm which turned out to be a Czechoslovakia-made CZ-858 Tactical, and not an AK-47 as earlier reported.
Chief Insp. Rodel Marcelo, head of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Criminal Investigation Unit said a CZ-858 Tactical looks the same as an AK-47.
Like the AK-47, the CZ-858 is also a semi-automatic assault rifle.
Marcelo said Llamas accompanied by his lawyer turned over the firearm to QCPD head Chief Supt. George Regis.
Llamas has been cleared of any criminal liability.
“No charges will be filed against secretary Llamas, but illegal possession of firearms will be filed against his bodyguards,” Marcelo said.
Also turned over by Llamas were three magazines of the high-powered firearm and a carrying case.
The QCPD on Friday formally filed charges against four staff members of Llamas.
Aides charged
Charged with illegal possession of firearms were Joey Tecson, John Brillant Alarcon, Reagan Lita and Michael de Chavez.
Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo said the four were charged after a TV footage of the Oct. 7 accident involving Llamas’s vehicle along Commonwealth Ave. showed an assault rifle inside the Mitsubishi Montero.
Tecson was the driver of the Montero with Alarcon as his companion. The pair bumped into an Isuzu Elf truck before dawn of that day.
A Hyundai Starex van driven by Lita later arrived at the scene with De Chavez shown alighting from the van to retrieve the rifle.
Llamas had reportedly told his men to bring his rifle to his house since he was out of the country to attend to official matters.
Since the gun was owned by Llamas, the gun permit was only applicable to him and not to his four staff members, Marcelo said in an interview.
Earlier, the PNP revoked Llamas’s permit to carry the rifle, but its license is still valid.
Marcelo said they would take custody of the firearm pending the preliminary investigation before the prosecutors’ office on the illegal possession of the firearm charges. With reports from Nancy C. Carvajal and Julie M. Aurelio
