DOJ revives missing rifles case allegedly sold to NPA
January 9, 2018 | 5:38pm
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II issued an order directing the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct a case build up on the missing police firearms that were later found in the possession of the New People's Army. File
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice on Tuesday has dug up the 2014 case of the Philippine National Police allegedly selling firearms to the communists' armed wing.
On January 9, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II issued a Department Order directing the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct a case build up on the missing police firearms that were later found in the possession of the New People's Army.
In a separate statement, Aguirre said that the order was issued following the "directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to investigate the reported missing 1,004 Philippine National Police firearms at the PNP Headquarters which were discovered to have been sold to the members of the New People's Army in Mindanao."
The DOJ said that the NBI-led investigation is an "offshoot" of the case before the Office of the Ombudsman that found several PNP officials and private individuals accountable on graft charges on the same AK-47 controversy.
The Department added that this new probe would focus on "private individuals."
"With this, we are confident that those individuals who are responsible for this felonious act will be held accountable," Aguirre added.
The case before the Ombudsman stemmed from two separate complaints filed in 2014 alleging that the PNP entered an agreement with Werfast Documentary Agency for a courier delivery service for the renewal of firearms licenses.
According to the complaints, the contract with Werfast was approved "without procurement, accreditation and qualification."
Former PNP chief Alan Purisima and former Chief Superintendent Raul Petrasanta, then head of the police's Firearms, Explosives and Ordnance unit, are facing graft charges before the Sandiganbayan over the controversy.
Petrasanta, a known close friend of former President Benigno Aquino III, was once in the running to head the PNP. He was sacked from the position due to the AK-47 case.
In April 2016, the Court of Appeals overturned the ombudsman's decision to dismiss Petrasanta and ordered the reinstatement of the police general.
The appellate court said that the ombudsman committed grave abuse of discretion when it relieved Petrasanta and held the former cop accountable for the contract with Werfast Documentary Agency.
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