High-powered firearms were turned over to members of the Naval Forces Central (NAVFORCEN) of the Philippine Navy in coordination with the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) in the hinterland barangays of Cebu City at dawn of Thursday, October 17, 2019. | Courtesy of the Cebu City Public Information Office
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A sniper rifle, an AK-47 assault rifle, and an M16A1 Colt Assault rifle are among the 30 firearms that 13 farmers of Cebu City’s hinterland barangays in Cebu City turned over to the Navymen and police officers during a joint operation in these areas on Thursday, October 17.
Contrary to the press statement of the Naval Forces Central (NAVFORCEN) released to the media about the operation, on Friday, October 18, 2019, the NAVFORCEN clarified today, October 19, 2019, that there were no warrants of arrest served among the 13 individuals who owned the firearms.
Lieutenant Commander Neil Rafael Ybera, public information officer of NAVFORCEN, told CDN Digital on Saturday evening, October 19, 2019, that the individuals, who are mostly farmers, voluntarily surrendered their firearms upon the arrival of the authorities in their respective residences.
Ybera said that the operation was a product of their monitoring from reports of concerned citizens.
“Part ng prevention plan for security matters,” said Ybera.
He added that NAVFORCEN had been in close coordination with the Police force of Cebu City as they constantly shared gathered information about security threats of the community.
During Thursday’s (October 17) joint operation, a farmer from Barangay Lusaran surrendered the most number of weapons — 17 firearms and various ammunition. These included an improvised shotgun, 14 .38 caliber revolvers, .22 caliber Black Widow revolver, an improvised pistol, a .45 caliber pistol, ammunition for these handguns.
According to the Naval Forces Central statement, the farmer heeded their invitation to surrender his firearms.
Aside from the three long firearms, the 13 farmers also surrendered an M4 carbine automatic rifle, M1917 Redstone, Remington caliber 7.62 mm bolt action sniper rifle, springfield caliber 30 US M1, M1 Garand rifle, and M2 Carbine automatic rifle.
“Your Navy in the Visayas is always ready to respond to ensure the safety and security of our region and its nearby communities as we contribute to our mandates of securing our maritime domain to have a safer environment,” read a portion of the statement.
The CCPO (Cebu City Police Office) is still investigating these individuals to find out how they got a hold of these firearms.
The CCPO, however, said in a statement that they would want to know where the firearms came from — bought from communist terrorist groups or were given to them because they were members of these groups, who were active in these areas in the 1980s.
All the 13 individuals were invited to the patrol base of of Cebu Mobile Force Company (CMFC) for investigation and interrogation in Barangay Pung-ol, while all the confiscated firearms were brought to the CCPO armory for custody.
After that they were all released.
Meanwhile, among the barangays that the authorities visited to trace the individuals who were reported possessing the high-powered firearms were: Tabunan, Taptap, Tagbao, Lusaran, Adlao, Paril and Mabini, of Cebu City./dbs