Llamas discloses guns in SALN

MANILA, Philippines - Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas is the only Cabinet member of President Aquino with a significant number of firearms, including his infamous AK-47 rifle.

Llamas had submitted his 2011 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) wherein he declared that he owns three handguns and two rifles – a .40 caliber Glock pistol worth P35,000, a P40,000 9mm Beretta pistol he acquired in 1995, and a Parao caliber SX164S worth P90,000 in 2010.

Among the rifles he owned were the AK-47, which he claimed was only worth P38,000 when he bought the rifle in 2011 – the same year it was accidentally discovered – and an M-16 Bushmaster rifle worth P150,000 that was acquired in 2010.

The firearms matched the admission he made last year when he said all of these guns were licensed and were covered by permits from the Firearms and Explosives Department of the Philippine National Police.

Llamas defended his possession of a newly acquired Czechoslovakian-made AK-47, saying he needed it for his and his family’s protection from “credible threats” he had been receiving.

“It’s a combination of simplicity and capacity. It’s the right choice. And it’s very practical to use, more practical than most long firearms,” he told reporters in a news briefing in Malacañang shortly after he arrived from Geneva, Switzerland in October. 2011.

Llamas also justified his training in high school and college – Citizen Army Training and ROTC, respectively, that gave him “competence” to handle high-powered firearms.

President Aquino, who is also a gun enthusiast and a sharpshooter, had also confirmed owing firearms in his SALN, but these were not listed in the same form and could probably be found in another attachment.

Other Cabinet members who admitted owning guns were Transportation and Communication Secretary Mar Roxas and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Roxas, a former senator who lost in the May 2010 elections to Vice President Jejomar Binay, listed, without enumerating, that his firearms are worth P75,000, while de Lima said the handgun she acquired in 2011 cost P186,000.

Cabinet with relatives in government

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad had listed 10 relatives that are currently working in the government.

Abad’s wife Henedina is the incumbent congresswoman in their home province of Batanes, their daughter Julia heads the Presidential Management Staff and her brother Luis Andres is the chief of staff of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

Other Abad relatives include his first cousins Anastacio Barsana (mayor of Ivana, Batanes), Judge Ramon Barona (Basco, Batanes Regional Trial Court), bailiff Fernando Barona in Ivana Metropolitan Trial Court.

The four others are niece Myla Pisig who works at the House of Representatives, nephew Marco Abad who works at Henedina’s office, also in the House, and nephews Parish Pisig, a Philippine National Oil Co. employee, and John Abad, an employee at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center.

The Abad couple also declared they owned a hotel and restaurant that they established in 2002, the Creative Hotel Concepts. They also declared P5.7 million in artworks and paintings and P919,000 in antique collections.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje rectified reports that his net worth increased by more than P10 million.

“I wish to clarify that my 2011 SALN is P29.3 million while my 2010 SALN is P28.8 million,” he said, citing the minimal P500,000 increase.