AFTER ONE-WEEK ORDEAL

URBIZTONDO– Mayor Ernesto Balolong Jr. is back in his town after seven days in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) but the 21 firearms and hundreds of ammunitions seized from his possession remain on hold at the agency’s main office in Manila.

“They (guns seized from the mayor) are still with us up to now because ballistic examination is ongoing,” said lawyer Vicente de Guzman, assistant regional director of the NBI in Manila, said over a local radio program Thursday.

De Guzman declined to comment further on the case while investigation is ongoing.

The 21 firearms the raiders found in Balolong’s home and piggery and poultry farms were found to have licenses compelling the Department of Justice to drop the charges for illegal possession of firearms and resisting arrest filed against the mayor.

The raid in Balolong’s house and other properties, covered by four search warrants issued by a Quezon City Regional Trial Court judge, were conducted to collect the firearms in possession of Balolong and members of his family so that these can be subjected to ballistic examination.

TAMPERING

However, the NBI filed charges before the Municipal Trial Court of Urbiztondo for alleged tampering of the serial numbers of three M-16 and one M-14 rifles, that were among those seized.

The mayor posted in Manila the corresponding bail bond of P240,000 or P60,000 for each of the tampered high-powered firearms.

Balolong, released on December 2 and held a press conference later in the week, assured his constituents that no major charges were filed against him and categorically denied allegations that he is the mastermind in several killings in the province, including that of the Arcinue political couple from Lingayen.

“I ask the NBI to be fair in their investigation,” the mayor said.

Balolong explained that the four firearms were loose firearms which he surrendered in 2005 during a gun amnesty that year. After paying the required  fees, all these were issued corresponding licenses and for such purpose their serial numbers had to be changed.

Asked why there is a need to own such a big cache of firearms, Balolong said this is to ensure his safety and that of his family as well as their businesses because the peace and order situation in Urbiztondo is unstable.

POLITICS

Pedro Roque Jr., chief of NBI Dagupan, earlier said Balolong has been implicated by one Otto Guialaludin, alias “Boy Muslim”, as the brains behind the slaying of couple Ramon and Zorahayda Arcinue as well as two other high-profile killings in Pangasinan.

Balolong said Guilaludin was in fact on duty at the mayor’s gasoline station in Urbiztondo and a local policeman, Sgt. Nelson Palisoc, a member of the Urbiztondo Police, can testify that he was with him.

Guialaludin, who was a bodyguard of Balolong, was arrested by the NBI in Mindanao after he was tagged as the gunman behind the slaying of the Arcinue couple.

Balolong said his implication in the case is politically motivated and appealed to his opponents to “stop playing dirty politics”.

The other unsolved killings in Pangasinan to which Guialaludin confessed as the killer and pointing to Balolong as the mastermind was that of Herminigildo Sabangan, a school principal of Urbiztondo, and lawyer Dante Untalan of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).—with report from Eva Visperas

Back to Homepage

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments