PNP revokes gun licenses of Quiapo road rage suspect
A SCREENSHOT of the footage taken by a CCTV camera shows the still unidentified driver of a red Hyundai Eon shooting cyclist Mark Vincent Garalde after a road altercation in Quiapo, Manila, on Monday night. Screengrab from YouTube
Police have revoked the gun licenses of Vhon Martin Tanto, the road road suspect who shot dead a biker in Quiapo, Manila, and ordered him to turn over his firearms to the police.
In a press briefing on Friday, Senior Supt. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, chief of the Philippine National Police’s Firearms and Explosives Office (PNP-FEO), said he sent investigation officers to Tanto’s residence in Manila to serve the revocation order 2 p.m. Thursday.
Authorities arrested Tanto, a businessman and former Army reservist, in Masbate before noon Friday after the police and local government units placed a P100,000-bounty on his head.
READ: Suspect in Quiapo road rage shooting nabbed in Masbate
The order read: “In this regard, you are hereby directed to turn over all your firearms to this office or to the nearest police office station immediately upon receipt of this notice in compliance with Section 37.4 or the Implementing Rules and Regulation of Republic Act no. 10591.”
Tanto’s failure to surrender his guns to the police would mean his firearms will be declared loose or illegally-owned.
The suspect shot Mark Vincent Garalde multiple times after a road altercation on P. Casal street Monday night. A teenage girl near the crime scene was critically wounded after she was hit by a stray bullet.
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If the FEO would prove that Tanto used one of his licensed guns to shoot Garalde, he would be perpetually disqualified from applying for any firearm license in the future.
Tanto owns three guns—two caliber. 45 and one caliber .40 handguns. The license for one of his guns will expire on December 11 this year.
Binag said Tanto did not have a permit to carry firearms outside residence (PTCFOR) and a permit to transport (PTT) for his three handguns.
“Ang pagkakaroon ng baril ay isang pribilehiyo, hindi isang karapatan (Owning a gun is a privilege, not a right) so anytime the government can revoke the license of a gunholder,” the police official said. IDL/rga
