TACLOBAN CITY – A 46-year-old job order worker of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Calbiga town was arrested after police allegedly found an unlicensed firearm inside his vehicle while responding to a road crash in Jiabong, Samar, early Thursday, Aug. 6.
Police identified the suspect only by his alias “Welo,” a resident of Barangay 1, Poblacion, Calbiga, Samar.
According to the Jiabong Municipal Police Station, officers were dispatched at around 3 a.m. to Barangay Catalina following a report of a collision involving a metallic gray Toyota Wigo and a patient transport vehicle from Paranas, Samar.
While investigating the incident and assisting those involved, police asked the Toyota Wigo driver to present his driver’s license and vehicle registration documents.
As the suspect searched inside the vehicle, responding officers allegedly noticed a caliber .45 pistol in plain view beneath the front passenger seat.
During the investigation, the police station’s Tactical Operations Center also relayed a separate report of indiscriminate firing that had occurred in Barangay Tagbaya-on, Jiabong.
Police said verification showed that the reported gunfire happened at about the same time the suspect’s vehicle had passed through the village before figuring in the crash at Barangay Catalina.
Officers then required the suspect to present a License to Own and Possess Firearms (LTOPF) and a Permit to Carry Firearms Outside Residence (PTCFOR), but he allegedly failed to produce the required documents.
The suspect was immediately arrested for alleged violation of Republic Act No. 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.
Recovered from the vehicle was a chamber-loaded caliber .45 pistol, one magazine containing six rounds of ammunition, and an extra magazine loaded with 13 live rounds.
Police are preparing the filing of an inquest complaint for violation of Republic Act No. 10591 before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
Authorities have yet to determine whether the recovered firearm was used in the reported indiscriminate firing incident, which remains under investigation.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
