PNP summons guards for wielding rifle, bat

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has summoned two guards and their security agency after they were caught on video brandishing an M-16 rifle and a baseball bat at a group of men at the Market! Market! Mall in Taguig City over the weekend, an official said yesterday.

Chief Superintendent Noel Constantino said the identities of the two guards have yet to be established but their employer, Jarton Security Agency, has sent word that they have been suspended.

Constantino, who heads the PNP’s Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies, said he signed an order for an investigation of the Dec. 6 incident, caught on two videos that have since gone viral.

In one video, a guard is seen aiming the rifle at a crowd in an area of the mall where late-night drinking is allowed. The other video shows another guard pointing a baseball bat and banging it against a table, breaking glass in the process.

Constantino said they have also ordered the security agency and the Taguig City police to submit an official report of the incident.   

He said the guards committed at least two grave offenses – using an unlicensed firearm and the violation of the code of conduct for security guards. Both offenses are punishable by either suspension or cancellation of the licenses of the agency or the security guards involved, Constantino said.

Constantino said security guards and security agencies are bound to observe the code of conduct prescribed by Republic Act 5487 or the Private Security Agency Act.

“Security guards should exercise maximum tolerance in all situations. The security guards should have gone there in groups and pacified the crowd. They can’t go to an area and act like Rambo,” Constantino said. “The use of force is always a last resort.”

Records show Jarton Security Agency, based in Biñan, Laguna, has no M-16 rifle listed in its disposition report of personnel and firearms last November.

Constantino said security agencies should not be borrowing firearms from each other.