Cop's nephew, 9, hit by stray bullet

DUENAS, ILOILO, Philippines — The traditional 21-gun salute is usually done for military honor but, for civilians, firing of guns as a customary burial rite may also mean respect to the dead, albeit illegal it may seem.

Such civilian practice however became the cause of a complaint of a family in this town of Iloilo, after its 9-year-old boy was hit by stray bullet at around 12 noon in a Sunday funeral.

According to reports, several men fired their guns during the burial of former village councilman Henry Ladines of Brgy. Cabudian of this town. But one of the bullets strayed into the house of SPO2 Randy Lambungan of Passi City Police Station.

Lambungan’s house, already part of Dueñas town proper, is near the town’s public cemetery located at Brgy. Pandan. The bullet hit the roof and bounced hitting the forehead of Lambungan’s nephew. Luckily, the boy only suffered a graze wound.

Lambungan found the bullet’s slug from an unknown caliber of a gun and turned this over to the Dueñas Police Station.

Initial reports claimed that the family was complaining for the inaction of the local police over what happened, even contending that the gun used during the “gun salute” was licensed.

After receiving the report, Sr. Supt. Gil Lebin, director of the Iloilo Provincial Police, ordered a thorough investigation on the incident. He said: “Whether the gun is licensed or the holder has a permit to carry firearm outside of residence, it was still considered an illegal discharge of firearm. They have no authority to fire the gun.”

As this developed, Dueñas police investigators are yet to identify the individuals who fired their gun during the burial. With Lebin’s directive, they also inspected the cemetery near the grave of the buried councilman and recovered six empty shells of an unknown caliber of a gun.

A ballistic examination will also be made on the slug recovered at Lambungan’s house. - THE FREEMAN