The president of the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) in Paete town in Laguna province was arrested early Tuesday after police found several unlicensed firearms in his supposed safe house in the nearby town of Pakil.
The suspect, Roberto Bagabaldo, village chief of Taft, is on the drug watch list of the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), a report from the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) regional police said.
Bagabaldo is a brother of Paete Mayor Rojilyn Bagabaldo.
In a telephone interview, Insp. Juan Renzon Gonzales III, Pakil police chief, said policemen searched the village chief’s office in the village hall, his house in Barangay (village) Quinale in Paete and his home inside the St. James Subdivision in Barangay Burgos, Pakil, starting 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Gonzales said no gun was found in the first two locations. Unlicensed firearms, however, were found in Bagabaldo’s house in the subdivision, which “seemed to serve as his safe house.” Police recovered four guns and several bullets.
“Some had expired licenses while others were ‘colorum,’ [meaning these have] no permits at all,” Gonzales said.
No illegal drugs were recovered from the houses, the police report said.
In a separate telephone interview, Mayor Bagabaldo said Roberto may have had guns because he is a retired policeman.
The mayor, however, could not further comment, saying he had just learned about his brother’s arrest. RAM/rga
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