Sr. Supt. Royina Garma (right) Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) director, talks with Sr. Insp. Joemar Pomarijos of the Waterfront Police Station as he presents the confiscated firearms found inside the baggage compartment of the Samar government-owned bus driven by Joel Galanza, 50, and his companion Herman Factor Gagmata, 31, bound for Ormoc City.
CEBU City Police Office Director Senior Supt. Royina Garma said they are coordinating with the officials of the municipality of Marabut in Samar province to determine the owner, origin and destination of the 14 short firearms that were recovered from the baggage compartment of their bus on Thursday night.
The bus was already boarded on a roro ship bound for Samar when police received a tip that it carried firearms.
Marabut, a fifth class municipality is headed by Mayor Elizabeth Ortello who as of press time is yet to issue a statement regarding the incident.
Police arrested the driver, Joel Galanza and Herman Factor Gagmata,
Garma wants to know why a government bus is in Cebu.
“Bakit may bus na government at e-trace din namin ang sasakyan kung eto ay pinaayos lang o bago ba?”
(We want to know why a government bus is here. Was it newly bought or had just undergone repairs?)
Authorities said the intercepted bus was from Metro Truck Heavy Equipment based in Barangay Banilad, Cebu City.
Garma said she would ask the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-7 to help in the investigation.
Authorities are also not discounting the possibility that the intercepted firearms will be used by a private army for the 2019 national and local elections.
The province of Samar is a known election hotspot.
Meanwhile, Chief Insp. Hector Amancia, Deputy Regional Chief of CIDG-7 said their immediate task is to identify the persons involved in the transport of the recovered firearms.
Amancia said that they will also investigate the management or the owner of the truck company to shed light on the matter.
This developed as the police believed that this is not the first time that the transport of illegal firearms has happened.
The police also said that those arrested reportedly told them that a public official owns the seized firearms but refused to name names.
Meanwhile, charges for illegal possession of firearms will be filed next week against those arrested.