Garbo may raid Paolo’s house

CEBU, Philippines - Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Marcelo Garbo, Jr. threatened to raid the house of Pablo “Paolo” Garcia III, son of suspended governor Gwendolyn Garcia, if he will not surrender his three remaining firearms.

“Anytime, we may conduct the raid if they will not comply with the order,” Garbo said yesterday.

Garbo also urged Paolo’s friend, Primitivo Cal, to surrender his three firearms.

The Firearms and Explosives Office at Camp Crame revoked the licenses of Paolo’s guns as well as that of Cal and Tonyson Lee.

The three were accused of hitting the head of a policeman during the standoff at the Capitol last December.

Last week,  Paolo turned over to the Cebu Provincial Police Office his five firearms namely, two .9 mm pistols, one M-14 rifle, one M-16 rifle and a shotgun.

But Garbo said Paolo still has to surrender three more firearms, his Walther 9mm pistol, a Bersa .380 pistol and an H&R 7.62 rifle while Cal is also yet to surrender his Ruger LCP .380 pistol, a Glock .40 pistol and a Llama .380 pistol.

Lee surrendered his four firearms to PRO 7’s Firearms and Explosives Section last Wednesday night.

These are Caspian .45 pistol, a Parao .45 pistol, a Ruger LCP .380 pistol and a Glock 9mm pistol.

FES chief Rex Derilo said the firearms will be turned over to Camp Crame.  Derilo said Cal has expressed interest to surrender his firearms while Paolo had insisted that he only has five firearms.

Also yesterday, Paolo alleged that there is now a move declare as fake all his firearms that were turned over to the Cebu Provincial Police Office.

Paolo said that he is disturbed by the report after reliable sources informed him that since his turnover of the firearms to the police, certain individuals have approached several gunsmiths requesting for a certification stating that the firearms that he turned over are fake or copies of the real ones.

 â€œDuring the turnover, the firearms were scrutinized, accepted and cleared by the Police with no doubt or qualifications as to their authenticity because indeed, they are originals,” said Paolo in a statement.

Paolo said that even without receiving formal notice of the cancellation of his firearms licenses, he turned over all as a sign of good faith and his continued willingness to abide by the law.

Paolo lamented that this is at great risk to his family and to himself and as he is now unarmed.

“I sincerely hope that with my earnest efforts to cooperate with law enforcement, the moves to harass, intimidate and malign my family and myself would stop,” he said.

Paolo is also hoping that no person would be persuaded to issue a false certification as to the authenticity of all of the firearms.  (FREEMAN)