Negros Occidental Mayor sued for illegal possession of firearms

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  â€” Mayor Magdaleno Peña of Pulupandan town in Negros Occidental, and four others are facing charges for illegal firearms and explosives before the Department of Justice, police said yesterday.

Peña's ancestral house in Brgy. Ubay of Pulupandan was raided by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Special Action Force last May 2, where 90 firearms and explosives were found. The raid was conducted by virtue of a search warrant issued by Executive Judge Maria Filomena Singh of the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City.

The charges were filed against Peña and four others at the DOJ last May 15, as confirmed by Chief Supt. Jose Maria Espina, head of the PNP-CIDG’sAnti-Organized Crime Division. The other respondents are Florante Pondales, Joey Yunque, Rolly Escaran and Diogo Anciano, who were at the compound during the raid.

Peña, who did not seek reelection as he was on his last term, is succeeded by his son, Miguel, who ran unopposed in the May 13 polls.

Espina said Peña and his co-accused committed violations on illegal possession of firearms, ammunitions, and explosives and Article 19 of the Revised Penal Code or harboring criminal.

He said that out of the 90 firearms seized from the house of Peña in Barangay Ubay, Pulupandan, 12 were unregistered, one was listed in the name of the mayor and another was registered in the name of his son, mayor-elect Miguel, while the rest of guns were listed under the name of different corporations.

Earlier, although Peña admitted ownership of the firearms, he claimed they were all licensed. He, however, insisted that the explosives were only planted by the raiding team.

Espina stressed that there was no truth to the mayor's allegations that the explosives the police recovered from the residence were planted by the raiding team. He said that Peña should better contest these claims before the DOJ. (FREEMAN)