From the Business Mirror (Sep 8, 2021): Senate probe digs deeper into involvement of cops into AK-47 rifle deals with NPA rebels (BY RENE ACOSTA)
Alleged guerrillas of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) stand at an undisclosed location in this undated photo.
Nineteen police officials, most of them already retired, have been charged or are already facing cases before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the procurement of AK-47 assault rifles by a private firearms supplier, which the Philippine National Police (PNP) alleged to have ended up in the hands of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.
This was revealed at the hearing on Tuesday of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, to look into the circumstances as to how the 1,004 pieces of the Czech-made assault rifles reportedly fell at the disposal of the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
While the purpose of the hearing was supposed to come up with pertinent amendments to the law and preclude a repetition of similar deals, dela Rosa, a former chief of the PNP, also declared that the hearing was held in order to inform President Duterte on the status of the issue, as the President, during his last State of the Nation Address, had “personally” notified him to look into the case.
According to Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, the 1,004 pieces of AK-47 assault rifles with a total worth of P52 million were acquired in tranches through 23 transactions from years 2011 up to 2013 by private firearms supplier Twin Pines Inc. for its client-buyer identified as Isidro Lozada, owner of the Caraga Security Agency.
Magalong was the head of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) when the premier investigative body of the police looked into the transactions, wherein charges, both administrative and criminal, were recommended and subsequently filed against 19 police officials in 2014, which were approved by the late President Benigno Aquino III.
Magalong, who delivered a presentation during the Senate investigation, declared that the rifles ended up in rebel hands but were repeatedly declared as only “missing.”
Among the 19 officials charged before the Office of the Ombudsman or facing cases before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan were retired police Generals Napoleon Estilles, Gil Meneses and Raul Petrasanta. All of the 19 officials have earlier been assigned with the Civil Security Group (CSG), Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) and the Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies (SOSIA), all of the PNP, at the time transactions were supposed to have been consummated.
While recognizing that charges or cases have been filed against them, Meneses and Estilles, rebutted the claims, hinting the charges were flawed, since Twin Pines, which was supposed to be the principal respondent, was exonerated or expunged from the charges.
There are other police officers and even non-uniformed personnel of the PNP who were originally included in the charges, but they were dropped from the list of respondents.
According to Magalong, the rifles were procured by Twin Pines for Lozada, who acquired and received the weapons not only in behalf of Caraga, his security firm, but for three other companies: Isla Security Agency, Claver Mineral Development Corporation and JTC Mineral Mining Corporation. The rifles, however, he said, later ended up in the hands of communist rebels.
The former CIDG director said that 257 rifles went to JTC mining, 362 to Caraga, 160 to Isla and 235 to Claver, all with Lozada as the conduit and recipient.
“Isla denied purchasing firearms,” Magalong said, adding all of the 1,004 rifles “cannot be accounted for.”
Magalong said he talked to Lozada in 2014 when the CIDG invited him to Camp Crame as it was investigating the issue, and Lozada reportedly admitted that he had been “used by the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines) as courier to purchase the AK-47.”
Lozada, he said, was intimidated by the NPA into making the procurements, even threatening to kill him or his family members.
Each of the firearms costs P52, 000.
Magalong however said that Lozada “refused to put into writing” his statement.
An operation by the government in Mindanao seized 44 pieces of AK-47 rifles, and Magalong said that the PNP Crime Laboratory found five of the rifles to have been part of the 1,004 rifles.
Updating the Senate committee during the hearing, current CIDG officials led by Major Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro said an operation on June 24, 2014 in Trento, Agusan del Sur also resulted in the seizure of 18 assorted firearms, including six AK-47 rifles.
During the operation, Lozada, who was inside an intercepted vehicle, also admitted he has a total of 31 AK-47 acquired by Caraga security from Twin Pines.”
The CIDG officials told dela Rosa that all of the firearms have already been accounted for.
During the hearing, Meneses declared in behalf of the other accused officials that they have “no hand, knowledge and participation in the alleged sale of AK-47 to the NPA in Mindanao.”
“We in the CSG, FEO, SOSIA cannot and should not be faulted, even held accountable in the sale,” he said.
Meneses said they only processed documents submitted by Twin Pines, adding the 1,004 rifles were only among the “numerous firearms imported by Twin Pines.”
Estilles, on the other hand, questioned the charges against them, especially noting that Twin Pines was not included in the charges, although it was the company that facilitated and was the one involved in the sale.
He even likened their case to the Land Transportation Office, which he said, issued a license to a motorcycle. But when the motorcycle is involved or used in a holdup, will that make the LTO liable?
“Kami lang nag-lisensiya pero kami ang nagka kaso,” he said.
[Rene P. Acosta covers defense, law enforcement and national security for the paper. He had written for a number of publications, including abroad before he joined BusinessMirror. His works had appeared in the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Asia Pacific Defense Forum, both in the US. He took up regional security with the International Visitor Leadership Program, US. He is currently the chairman of the board of the Defense Press Corps of the Philippines which he had headed in 2009.]
Nineteen police officials, most of them already retired, have been charged or are already facing cases before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the procurement of AK-47 assault rifles by a private firearms supplier, which the Philippine National Police (PNP) alleged to have ended up in the hands of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.
This was revealed at the hearing on Tuesday of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, to look into the circumstances as to how the 1,004 pieces of the Czech-made assault rifles reportedly fell at the disposal of the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
While the purpose of the hearing was supposed to come up with pertinent amendments to the law and preclude a repetition of similar deals, dela Rosa, a former chief of the PNP, also declared that the hearing was held in order to inform President Duterte on the status of the issue, as the President, during his last State of the Nation Address, had “personally” notified him to look into the case.
According to Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, the 1,004 pieces of AK-47 assault rifles with a total worth of P52 million were acquired in tranches through 23 transactions from years 2011 up to 2013 by private firearms supplier Twin Pines Inc. for its client-buyer identified as Isidro Lozada, owner of the Caraga Security Agency.
Magalong was the head of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) when the premier investigative body of the police looked into the transactions, wherein charges, both administrative and criminal, were recommended and subsequently filed against 19 police officials in 2014, which were approved by the late President Benigno Aquino III.
Magalong, who delivered a presentation during the Senate investigation, declared that the rifles ended up in rebel hands but were repeatedly declared as only “missing.”
Among the 19 officials charged before the Office of the Ombudsman or facing cases before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan were retired police Generals Napoleon Estilles, Gil Meneses and Raul Petrasanta. All of the 19 officials have earlier been assigned with the Civil Security Group (CSG), Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) and the Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies (SOSIA), all of the PNP, at the time transactions were supposed to have been consummated.
While recognizing that charges or cases have been filed against them, Meneses and Estilles, rebutted the claims, hinting the charges were flawed, since Twin Pines, which was supposed to be the principal respondent, was exonerated or expunged from the charges.
There are other police officers and even non-uniformed personnel of the PNP who were originally included in the charges, but they were dropped from the list of respondents.
According to Magalong, the rifles were procured by Twin Pines for Lozada, who acquired and received the weapons not only in behalf of Caraga, his security firm, but for three other companies: Isla Security Agency, Claver Mineral Development Corporation and JTC Mineral Mining Corporation. The rifles, however, he said, later ended up in the hands of communist rebels.
The former CIDG director said that 257 rifles went to JTC mining, 362 to Caraga, 160 to Isla and 235 to Claver, all with Lozada as the conduit and recipient.
“Isla denied purchasing firearms,” Magalong said, adding all of the 1,004 rifles “cannot be accounted for.”
Magalong said he talked to Lozada in 2014 when the CIDG invited him to Camp Crame as it was investigating the issue, and Lozada reportedly admitted that he had been “used by the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines) as courier to purchase the AK-47.”
Lozada, he said, was intimidated by the NPA into making the procurements, even threatening to kill him or his family members.
Each of the firearms costs P52, 000.
Magalong however said that Lozada “refused to put into writing” his statement.
An operation by the government in Mindanao seized 44 pieces of AK-47 rifles, and Magalong said that the PNP Crime Laboratory found five of the rifles to have been part of the 1,004 rifles.
Updating the Senate committee during the hearing, current CIDG officials led by Major Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro said an operation on June 24, 2014 in Trento, Agusan del Sur also resulted in the seizure of 18 assorted firearms, including six AK-47 rifles.
During the operation, Lozada, who was inside an intercepted vehicle, also admitted he has a total of 31 AK-47 acquired by Caraga security from Twin Pines.”
The CIDG officials told dela Rosa that all of the firearms have already been accounted for.
During the hearing, Meneses declared in behalf of the other accused officials that they have “no hand, knowledge and participation in the alleged sale of AK-47 to the NPA in Mindanao.”
“We in the CSG, FEO, SOSIA cannot and should not be faulted, even held accountable in the sale,” he said.
Meneses said they only processed documents submitted by Twin Pines, adding the 1,004 rifles were only among the “numerous firearms imported by Twin Pines.”
Estilles, on the other hand, questioned the charges against them, especially noting that Twin Pines was not included in the charges, although it was the company that facilitated and was the one involved in the sale.
He even likened their case to the Land Transportation Office, which he said, issued a license to a motorcycle. But when the motorcycle is involved or used in a holdup, will that make the LTO liable?
“Kami lang nag-lisensiya pero kami ang nagka kaso,” he said.
[Rene P. Acosta covers defense, law enforcement and national security for the paper. He had written for a number of publications, including abroad before he joined BusinessMirror. His works had appeared in the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Asia Pacific Defense Forum, both in the US. He took up regional security with the International Visitor Leadership Program, US. He is currently the chairman of the board of the Defense Press Corps of the Philippines which he had headed in 2009.]
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/09/08/senate-probe-digs-deeper-into-involvement-of-cops-into-ak-47-rifle-deals-with-npa-rebels/
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