M-16 rifle, pistol seized from gun ban violators

Northern Police District (NPD) operatives arrested two men for violating the gun ban while on a routine patrol in Caloocan and Valenzuela City late Thursday, seizing a pistol and an M-16 Armalite rifle.

NPD director Chief Superintendent Pedro Tango said his men seized an M-16 from Danilo Romulo, 52, a barangay treasurer of Barangay Veinte Reales in Valenzuela City at around 7 p.m.

Tango said Romulo claimed that he is a civilian agent of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).

He also presented a mission order and an acknowledgment receipt from ISAFP for his rifle but it has no permit from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) exempting him from the gun ban.

"We are still verifying whether he is really an ISAFP agent. But he is still in trouble for gun ban violation," Tango said.

Romulo was on a motorcycle along C. Molina Street in Barangay Veinte Reales with the M-16 slung on his shoulder when patrolling officers spotted him.

The police flagged him down. Romulo told them he was an ISAFP agent but could not present a permit for his weapon.

In Caloocan, meanwhile, police have arrested Ariel Dino also for violating the gun ban.

Officers were patrolling Aglipay Street when they chanced upon Dino at around 6:45 p.m. and saw that he was armed with a .38 caliber pistol. They asked him to present documents proving that he was legally allowed to carry a gun but he didn’t have any. — Pete Laude