Guns, ammunition seized at ‘Ang Dating Daan’ temple

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — Several unlicensed guns and undetermined pieces of ammunition were seized by combined police operatives of the Quezon City Police District and Apalit police during a raid at the temple of Eli Soriano’s "Ang Dating Daan" in Barangay Sampaloc, Apalit, Pampanga Monday evening.

In his report to Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina, Pampanga provincial police director, Chief Inspector Mar Dayag, Apalit police chief, said the seized items include a bodyguard model caliber 30 shotgun, two pieces of caliber .38 revolvers and caliber .30 and M1 winchester rifle from the room of a certain Abner Martizano, reportedly an ADD minister and staying in one of the rooms located inside the compound.

Espina said the raiding team led by Quezon City Warrant and Subpoena Section personnel and members of the local police and Special Weapons and Tactics team, went to the temple to serve the warrant of arrest issued by the Midsayap, North Cotabato Regional Trial Court against Martizano for an alleged rape case.

But the raiding team failed to find Martizano and instead took with them several firearms and ammunition found inside his room.

Retired police Col. Domingo de Guzman, chief security officer of the ADD, assailed the raiding team for an "overkill" in its show of force and violation of the proper procedure in serving an arrest warrant.

He said the actuation made by the raiding team was a gross violation of human rights.

"We were deprived of our rights by the policemen who were all dressed in full-battle-gear. Our temple is not a haven of criminals, why should these policemen act like they’re going to war," De Guzman stressed.

He said the firearms seized by the police were service firearms of the security guards detailed at the main gate and the Larlin gate. The raiding team also took the audio recorder of the security cameras before they left on board L300 vans.

De Guzman reported the incident and had it on record at the office of the 3rd Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (3CIDU).

He said the ADD is planning to file criminal charges in court against the raiding team.

Soriano was not around during the raid and was attending a Bible Expo and the 25th anniversary celebration of the ADD at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City, said De Guzman.