Retired soldier nabbed for illegal gun possession

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BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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January 17, 2018
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ILOILO City – A retired member of the Philippine Marines was arrested yesterday in Barangay Bagacay, San Dionisio, Iloilo.

The police raided the house of Reynaldo Bañez, 53, around 3 p.m. and recovered a 12-gauge shotgun (serial number 9552369) and a .22 revolver (serial number 42544).

Bañez failed to present licenses to prove his legal ownership of the guns, according to Senior Inspector Marvin Buenavista, San Dionisio police chief.

Bañez faces a charge for violation of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.

“We sought a search warrant from the court to raid his house because of complaints that he sometimes fired guns. Others claimed seeing him roaming around with a gun,” said Buenavista.

At the time of his retirement, Bañez was holding the rank of Technical Sergeant in the Philippine Marines.

From what the San Diionisio police gathered, one of the areas where Bañez was assigned while still in active military service was Patikul, Sulu, a lair of the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.

Yesterday’s raid was supported by the Iloilo Police Provincial Office.

The San Dionisio police could not confirm suspicions that Bañez was being coddled by a politician in the 5th District of Iloilo, said Buenavista.

Aside from illegal drugs, goons are a problem in the 5th District, according to Chief Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, regional police director.

This is the reason why the Police Regional Office 6’s (PRO-6) campaign against illegal drugs and criminality is given more emphasis in the northern Iloilo district, he stressed.

The 5th District is made up of the municipalities of Ajuy, Balasan, Barotac Viejo, Batad, Carles, Concepcion, Estancia, Lemery, San Dionisio, San Rafael, and Sara.

According to Binag, the PRO-6 had received text messages about the illegal drug problem in the district and the criminal gangs operating in the area./PN
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