ILOILO City – A member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and his two friends were arrested yesterday in Barangay Hibao-an Norte, Mandurriao district for alleged indiscriminate firing and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition.
Detained in the lockup cell of the Mandurriao police station were Kim Justin Gasapo, 28, of the village, and John Michael Bañares, 26, and Army Corporal Gary Dela Cruz, 27, both residents of Barangay Polo Maestravita, Oton, Iloilo.
Dela Cruz was assigned at the 15th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army based in Cauayan, Negros Occidental.
According to Police Captain Jose Mark Anthony Gesulga, Mandurriao police chief, his men stationed at a quarantine control point heard a burst of gunfire around 1 a.m. and this made checks.
They saw Dela Cruz and Bañares onboard a motorcycle. The two were flagged down. The police recovered a .45 pistol with ammunition from Dela Cruz while recovered from Bañares was a bullet of .45-caliber pistol. Gasapo yielded 11 ammunition of the same firearm.
Gesulga said Dela Cruz failed to show a license to possess a gun or permit to carry a firearm outside of residence.
Recovered from the area were four spent shells of a .45 pistol.
“They were subjected to paraffin tests to determine if they really fired their gun,” Gesulga told Panay News.
The men would be charged with illegal possession of firearm.
On the other hand, Major Cenon Pancito III, spokesperson of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said “soldiers are never above the law…Let the investigation takes it course. If Dela Cruz is found guilty, he should face the consequences.”/PN
