Two court sheriffs forced open the evidence room at the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office compound Friday and took the firearms seized from the ancestral house of Pulupandan Mayor Magdaleno Peña, Chief Inspector Ramonit Javier said yesterday.

Javier, who was relieved as provincial head of the PNP Crime Laboratory and Scene of the Crime Office of Negros Occidental Friday, said he filed a blotter report on the incident that took place at about 1:47 p.m. Friday, before Police Station 4 in Bacolod City.

He said the custodian of the evidence room was out of town and the sheriffs, acting on a writ of replevin to recover 76 firearms issued by Bacolod Regional Trial Court Judge Fernando Elumba, could not wait.

In his blotter report, Javier said Sheriffs Gabriel Ramos and Jose Rene Vasquez forcibly opened the evidence room by breaking the three padlocks using cutters and other tools, despite their plea to wait for the evidence custodian.

The sheriffs then took 49 firearms, many of which were shotguns, he said.

They had taken 27 firearms, some of which were high-powered, that were not in the evidence room on Thursday night, he said.

He said he allowed them to take the firearms Thursday night because they presented him with a court order.

Javier said he does not know the reason for his relief from his post on Friday.

The civil case for replevin with damages was filed on May 27 by Pulupandan mayor-elect Miguel Peña, Golden Lake Mineral Resources Inc., JHMA Marin Holdings Inc., and Kentfield Corp., of which he is the president and chairman of the board, and Vegas Exploration and Mining Corp., represented by its president, Federico Infante Jr.

The judge ordered the mayor-elect to put up a replevin bond of P4 million, that is double the value of the firearms being claimed.

The firearms will remain in the custody of the court for five days after recovery by the sheriff as required by the Rules of Court, after which, they will be released to their owners, if no other claims are made.

Officials of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, who had spearheaded the seizure of the 76 firearms, could not be reached for comment as of press time on whether they would contest the return of the guns to Peña and the four firms.*CPG

back to top