Court hostage-taker faces drug, gun raps

MANILA, Philippines – A man out on bail for holding a court stenographer hostage last year is facing charges of illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and illegal drugs after police caught him with three plastic sachets containing shabu and a loaded .38 caliber revolver.

Quezon City police station 6 commander Superintendent Antonio Yarra said Allan Carbungco, 28, was arrested along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, along with his brother Arthur, 30, and six others – Willardson Uy, 23; Eliseo Madela Jr., 28; Michael Suyu, 21; Randy Ortega, 28; and two 17-year-old boys.

A .38 caliber revolver with ammunition was also seized from Uy and six knives from the other suspects, he added.

Carbungco and the other suspects have undergone inquest proceedings on individual charges of illegal possession of firearms, ammunitions and illegal drugs before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office, Yarra said.

Eight victims have also implicated them in a robbery case, according to Chief Inspector Alex Alberto, Station 6 investigation and intelligence chief.

Yarra said last Friday, policemen spotted Carbungco’s group near the Commission on Audit building acting suspiciously and accosted them.

When the suspects saw the approaching policemen, they ran in different directions, but the lawmen eventually caught them, he added.

Alberto said Carbungco held hostage a stenographer of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 88, where a robbery case against him was being heard in February last year. – Reinir Padua