Man who threatened TV anchor gets gun permits revoked

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has revoked the firearms license of the man who allegedly threatened the group of TV anchor Cheryl Cosim with a gun during a traffic altercation last week.

Policemen are also giving Richard Ordoñez – who has been charged by Cosim’s camp with grave threat and illegal possession of firearms – until the end of the week to surrender his seven guns.

In a memorandum issued by the PNP’s Civil Security Group, Chief Superintendent Ireneo Bacolod revoked Ordoñez’s “license to possess firearms.” Based on records, Ordoñez has seven firearms, all of which had expired licenses.

Superintendent Lino Banaag, head of the Quezon City Police District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit(QCPD-CIDU), said that with the pending cases against Ordoñez, the latter cannot renew his expired licenses.

“And with the cases against him, I think there’s a probability that no new licenses would be issued to him in the future,” Banaag told reporters.

A team of policemen served the notice to Ordoñez’s house in Project 6, Quezon City yesterday, but a household member refused to sign the document, according to QCPD-CIDU deputy head Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano. It appeared that Ordoñez was not at home.

Elenzano said the notice demanded the surrender of the seven firearms under Ordoñez’s name within five days and because it was not signed by the household member yesterday, the police will give Ordoñez until the end of the week to comply or they will apply for a search warrant to confiscate the guns.

In a complaint that Cosim earlier filed before the QCPD-CIDU, she said she was with four people in a Mitsubishi Outlander traveling along Congressional Avenue last Nov. 2 when they were nearly sideswiped by the vehicle driven by Ordoñez.

Upon reaching the corner of Visayas Avenue, Ordoñez allegedly got out of his black Nissan Cefiro and challenged those from Cosim’s group to come out. He even allegedly pointed his handgun at Cosim and her group, who remained inside their vehicle. The man eventually went back to his sedan and sped away.

The police traced Ordoñez through his Cefiro’s license plate, and investigators found a photograph of Ordoñez at the PNP-Firearms and Explosives Division. Cosim said the man in the photograph was the same one who allegedly threatened them.