Puno defends PNP probe of Estrada, Binay

MANILA, Philippines - Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno defended yesterday a move by the Philippine National Police (PNP) to investigate the group of former President Joseph Estrada and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay for parading in a World War II jeep mounted with a 50-caliber machine gun replica last March 4.

He said not everybody knows that the machine gun was a toy, and the sight of it alarmed some people.

“It was somebody’s idea of a bad joke. Putting that gun there should not be done,” Puno said.

PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said the PNP is investigating the possibility of filing gun-toting charges against Estrada.

Verzosa said the gun, which Binay claimed to be a replica, has been impounded by the Central Visayas Police Office in Cebu for further investigation.

Puno said the main issue is if the gun is “a functioning 50-caliber machine gun, we have to… confiscate it.”

“But if it is not, they should have painted it to make it clear that it is just a toy. The point there is it is not something we can trivialize,” he said.

Binay asked why the PNP had to form a task force just to investigate him and Estrada for gun-toting when the jeep had always been parked in front of the Carmen, Cebu police station.

San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito said the PNP is persecuting his father. “The Arroyo (administration) is acting like a criminal syndicate using the PNP and the (military) as its hitmen,” he said.

Ejercito said Estrada remains a strong contender for the opposition in the 2010 presidential polls. – With Mike Frialde, Jose Rodel Clapano