The arrested suspect in the recent P2 million armed robbery and murder incidents in Kabankalan City, is facing additional charges for illegal possession of firearms and violation of RA 9165, also known as the Comprehensive Drug Act of 2002.

This was after a .45 caliber pistol with ammunition and two sachets of suspected shabu were recovered from robbery-hold-up and murder suspect Bonifacio Galagate Jr. during his arrest Friday in Brgy. 4, Kabankalan City, police chief Supt. Calixto Mabugat said.

Galagate and his companion still at-large, Richard Gonzales, were charged for robbery with homicide, after they allegedly robbed at gunpoint an employee of a sugar trader of P2 million, and shot dead her escort, Celso Cari-an.

Mabugat said they have endorsed the .45 caliber pistol and its ammunition taken from Galagate to the PNP Crime Laboratory for ballistic examinations.

Mabugat also said Galagate will be presented to the victim and witnesses of the robbery-hold-up incident, which he consideres as a closed case due to the identification of the suspects today.

If it turns positive, this will bolster the physical evidence to charges filed against Galagate, who was tagged as the gunman, he added.

Galagate was discovered to have been hiding and was arrested at the house of former Army Sgt. Violante Fernandez, that was raided Friday by the police.

The raid also yielded three sachets of suspected shabu and assorted paraphernalia, P4,446 in cash, as well seven live ammunition for .45 caliber pistol.

The house of Fernandez is located about 70 meters away from the house of sugar trader Herminia Ledesma, owner of the P2 million in cash taken from her employee, Cherry Begota. in Brgy. 4, Kabankalan City.

Mabugat said they will dig deeper into the relationship of Galagate and Fernandez, in when effort to unmask the identity of the mastermind in the P2 million robbery last month.

Aside from the filing of charges for violation of RA 9165 against Fernandez, he said they are also studying the possibility of filing another complaint against him for harboring a fugitive.

Mabugat said he is also enjoining Gonzales to surrender. If he will cooperate, he said, he may be recommended for the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice.

Meanwhile, Mabugat said Galagate has remained uncooperative to their investigations in the P2M robbery-hold-up incident and killing of Cari-an.*GPB

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