PNP records 5 stray bullet cases since December 16

MANILA, Philippines – Five incidents of stray bullet injuries have been recorded since Dec. 16 up to yesterday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported yesterday.

According to a report released by the PNP, the youngest of the victims was a three-year-old girl identified as Calsum Henio who reportedly sustained a gunshot wound in the right upper abdomen.

Police said Henio of Barangay Sirawai Proper, Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte, was shot last Dec. 16.

The other victims were identified as Hawati Asakil Hanapi, Cornelio Mendoza Grita (hit on left leg and right arm); and Erlinda Alob (hit on her right leg).

Hanapi, 50, of Tulungatung, Zamboanga City, was shot in the left leg last Dec. 20.

Grita and Alob were hit by stray bullets last Dec. 22 in Barangay Maggalang Kiling, Sariaya, Quezon.

Supt. Gregorio Galsim, the police chief of Bayambang, Pangasinan, told The STAR that a 34-year-old laborer was wounded after he was hit by a stray bullet while celebrating Christmas Eve in Barangay Telbang.

The victim, Danilo Carpio, was sitting on a bamboo chair and having a drinking session with his brothers-in-law when his left thigh was hit by a stray bullet.

Carpio’s drinking buddies said they did not hear any gunfire.

Investigators who conducted ocular inspection were unable to determine the trajectory of the bullet since the roofing of the house is made of nipa (coconut leaves) and partly galvanized roof.

The victim was initially brought to Bayambang District Hospital and later transferred to Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan City for further treatment.

Meanwhile, two men were arrested for alleged indiscriminate firing of guns.

Police identified those arrested as Willy Boca Talingting, 47, from Leyte and 27-year-old Felix Agum Cuenca from Dapitan City.

Confiscated from Talingting was a caliber .22 revolver with four bullets and two empty shells, while Cuenca yielded a 9 mm pistol. – With Eva Visperas