Batangas town mayor held for guns, explosives
CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines — A municipal mayor and his two brothers, one of them a barangay chairman, were among four people arrested for illegal possession of firearms and explosives in raids on their houses in Mabini, Batangas yesterday.
Mabini Mayor Nilo Villanueva and his brothers Bayani, president of the Association of Barangay Captains in the town, and Oliver as well as an unidentified staff are under the custody of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group for the filing of charges.
CIDG personnel and Special Action Force (SAF) commandos conducted the raids on the houses of the Villanueva siblings in Barangays Sto. Tomas, Sampaguita and Pulong Niyugan in Malvar.
The search warrants were issued by a local court.
A 5.56 caliber rifle, an MK2 hand grenade, a .22-caliber handgun, a .45-caliber pistol and several rounds of ammunition were reportedly recovered in the raids.
“The CIDG and SAF teams are the main operators of the raids with no backup from the local police. They only gave us an initial report,” Maj. Mickglo Mariñas of the Mabini police said.
Sources said a politician sought the help of the CIDG to conduct the raid in view of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in October.
- Latest
- Trending
