PNP revokes Bato gun license

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has revoked the license of fugitive Sen. Ronald dela Rosa to own or carry firearms.

The PNP’s Police Regional Office 11 (PRO 11) yesterday said the revocation order – covering 117 assorted firearms – was electronically transmitted on May 26 to the Regional Civil Security Unit 11 (RCSU 11), which served it to Dela Rosa’s lawyer Vicente Adrian Pajardo the following day, in coordination with the Davao City Police Office.

Revoked were Dela Rosa’s License to Own and Possess Firearms and Firearms Registrations.

After receiving the order, Pajardo said he would “discuss the matter with his client and will further coordinate with RCSU 11 regarding the revocation order.”

Police Brig. Gen. Leon Victor Rosete, PRO XI regional director, said the serving of the order was conducted lawfully and professionally.

“The implementation and service of the Order of Revocation were conducted in accordance with the rule of law, established procedures, and with the highest degree of professionalism,” Rosete said.

“The Philippine National Police remains committed to the fair, impartial, and lawful execution of its mandates while ensuring respect for due process and the rights of all parties concerned,” he added.

The other lawyer of Dela Rosa, Israelito Torreon, questioned the legality of the revocation order.

In a Facebook post, Torreon maintained that Section 4(g) of Republic Act 10591 cited by the PNP-FEO does not cover revocation and that Section 39 of the law is the relevant provision concerning revocation of firearms license.

“Read the law. Section 4 is titled ‘Standards and Requisites for Issuance and Obtaining a License.’ It tells you who can GET a license. Section 39 – separately titled ‘Ground for Revoation’ – tells you when you can LOSE one. They are different with different headings for a reason,” Torreon said.

Torreon further said that Section 39 has 10 grounds for license revocation, and that pending criminal case is not one of them.

Later in an interview over radio dzBB,  Torreon said Dela Rosa’s legal team would ask the PNP-FEO to reconsider its decision.

He also maintained he has not talked to Dela Rosa since he slipped out of the Senate following a shooting incident last May 13. He stressed a turnover of firearms would be “a decision that can be made only by Sen. Dela Rosa.”

Furthermore, Torreon argued that NBI’s branding Dela Rosa as “armed and dangerous” has no legal basis. “The NBI has simultaneously classified Senator Dela Rosa as ‘armed and dangerous’ — activating protocols that authorize lethal approach — while stripping him of his legal authority to be armed,” Torreon said.

“No Philippine court ordered any of this. No Philippine judge has found probable cause. The sequence is: strip the license, deploy 225,000 officers, classify as armed and dangerous, authorize lethal force,” he maintained. Police swooped down yesterday afternoon on the Dela Rosa family’s ancestral house in Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur but did not find him there. -  Edith Regalado