EDITORIAL - Missing guns

There is speculation that this investigation could be connected to the rivalry for appointment as the next chief of the Philippine National Police. Even if the speculation is correct, however, the important thing is to determine whether several ranking PNP officers were involved in the anomalous purchase of about 900 high-powered guns that are now missing.

The PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group is reportedly readying criminal and administrative charges against Director Gil Meneses of the Civil Security Group, Chief Superintendent Raul Petrasanta of the police regional office in Central Luzon, Chief Superintendent Tom Rentoy of the office that supervises private security agencies, PNP comptroller Senior Superintendent Regie Catiis and Senior Superintendent Eduardo Acierto Jr.

Except for Rentoy, the officers all used to be assigned at the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office, which ordered the 900 AK-47 and Armalite rifles allegedly using fictitious names and addresses. Petrasanta, a member of the Philippine Military Academy’s Class of ’84, is reportedly being groomed to be the next PNP chief. If indicted, he will be among several mostly retired top PNP officers, all of them PMA alumni, who are facing criminal charges for large-scale corruption and other anomalies in police supply procurements.

The nation is awash with guns, and not just in Mindanao or Danao in the Visayas. People have often wondered where all the guns, especially high-powered ones, come from. Among the popular theories is that the weapons are supplied by those who are authorized to carry them: police and military officers themselves.

The officers under investigation for the missing guns have denied the accusations, and they will be accorded due process. The case, however, should prompt a thorough review of the procedures that offer loopholes for anomalous procurement in the PNP. If the latest case turns out to be true, it won’t be the first of its kind. Unless remedial measures are implemented, it won’t be the last.