QCPD:No planting, recycling of guns

MANILA, Philippines - The head of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) yesterday denied allegations that the firearms with identical serial numbers recovered in alleged shootouts with law enforcers were being “recycled” in police operations.

Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, QCPD director, said the 29 handguns, which bore the same serial numbers, were all accounted for and turned over to the Crime Laboratory of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said there is a possibility that the guns with same serial number were recycled to set up a scenario wherein the police were forced to kill drug suspects after they fought back.

“Hindi totoo yun, nagkataon-taon lang na pare-pareho yung (it’s not true, it’s just a coincidence na they have) serial numbers kasi nakita natin na even (because even) registered firearms ay magkakapareho (sometimes have same numbers). Lahat ng mga nakuha na baril ay (all the guns were) turned over, as per basic procedure, sa Crime Lab,” Elezar said.

Documents obtained by The STAR showed that there were 105 firearms registered with the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) database, which only had 35 serial numbers similar to those found in QCPD operations.

Eleazar also maintained that all of the alleged shootouts involving these guns with the same serial numbers were recovered from the suspect in legitimate operations.

The STAR reported that there were 29 guns, which bore only eight serial numbers out of the more than 300 guns seized by the QCPD in separate police operations since July 1, 2016.

The serial numbers that were found in various guns recovered in shootouts were: 936185 (six times), 479361, 361852 and 793618 (five times each), 047936, 179361, 7088911 and 911243 (each found twice).

Eleazar stressed that these cases of similar serial numbers on recovered guns in the past six months in the same city were mere coincidence.

He said he could not speculate if the slain suspects who used guns with the same serial numbers were part of a syndicate or if they just got their firearms from only one source.

He added that illegal gun manufacturers only put serial numbers on loose firearms to give them a “semblance” of legitimacy but they don’t actually bother to check their stamps that results in “twin” guns or firearms with similar serial numbers.

The QCPD chief said that similar incidents have been noted by police before but the PNP has no actual database to check if the serial number was already found in recovered guns used in crimes in the city or country.

It is standard operating procedure for authorities to record the serial numbers of recovered guns in police reports.

Still, Supt. Marites Villacarlos, chief of the Firearms Identification Division of the PNP Crime Laboratory, confirmed that all 29 individual guns from Quezon City are safe and secured at their evidence facility.

The guns are being kept as part of the evidence of the various police operations, she said.

Villacarlos assured the public that the guns are in proper safekeeping.

Each recovered evidence, be it guns or bullet fragments, have separate case folders and identifying marks to make sure that all are in safekeeping, she said.