CA upholds raps vs. arms supplier in Maguindanao massacre

MANILA— The Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the resolution issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file charges against the four officers of a firearms manufacturing company for unlawful sale of ammunitions which were used during the Maguindanao massacre which resulted in the death of 58 people, including 32 journalists last Nov. 23, 2009.

In a nine-page resolution, the CA’s Special Seventeenth Division dismissed the petition of Armscor officers namely Victor Karunungan, Eduardo Santos, Lyn Demartin Justo and Melva Valdezlibao Karunungan for the failure of the petitions to show that the DOJ erred in finding probable cause to indict them for violation of the provisions of Presidential Decree 1866.

“While we are in unison towards the conclusion for the jettison of the petition, an assessment of petitioners’ supplication before us did not perforce mean that the cart was placed ahead of the horse, so to speak. Neither did we pronounce a premature determination of petitioners’ culpability,” said the ruling penned by Associate Justice Eduardo Peralta Jr., and was concurred by Associate Justices Associate Justices Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla and Nina Antonio Valenzuela.

“Far from such knee-jerk reactions, we simply relayed that, as a general rule, if the information is legally efficacious on its face, and there is no showing of manifest error, nor wanton exercise of the faculty conferred upon the public prosecutor, courts should not dismiss it for want of evidence because fact-discovery and evidence presentation may still unfold at the appropriate forum,” it added.

Facing trial for violation of Section 1 of Presidential Decree 1866, as amended by Republic Act 8294, the law governing illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, are: Karunungan, vice president and chief financial officer of Armscor; Libao, company’s accounting supervisor; Justo, book keeper of Armscor; and Santos, sales representative.

In opposing the petition, the DOJ, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), noted that after a series of raids conducted by the police following the massacre, it was discovered that some of the firearms used by the perpetrators and others that were dug up in Maguindanao belonged to the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The discovery prompted then PNP Chief Jesus Versoza to form an investigation team that conducted the accounting of the PNP equipment at certain pieces of real estate in Maguindanao.

Several police operations yielded numerous ammunition in Maguindanao that were identified through their lot numbers, which appeared to be that of Armscor.

Investigation further revealed that there were two illegal procurements which involved Armscor and the PNP on august 21, 2008 and April 10, 2009.

Investigation disclosed that it was Police Supt. Bahnarin Kamaong, then group director of the 15th Regional Mobile Group, Police Regional Office of Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao-ARMM, who instructed SPO4 Nicasio Ardaniel to procure the 5.56mm ammunition intended for PRO-ARMM.

For the purchase, Ardaniel coordinated with Santos for the purchase of 500,000 rounds of cartridge ball 5.56mm full metal jacket combat ammunition on August 21, 2008.

On the other hand, the April 10, 2009 transaction covered an equal quantity of ammunition.

The deal was executed by the petitioners and approved its legality without verifying whether the police officials whom they were transacting with have permit to purchase the ammunition.

Eventually, the Firearms and Explosives Division issued a certification on January 15, 2010 which attested that the Office had not issued a permit to purchase ammunition to PRO-ARMM.

Thus, the charges were filed against petitioners based on the recommendation of the PNP.

On May 13, 2011, the DOJ found probable cause to indict the petitioners for violation of P.D. 1866 and affirmed its findings in a resolution issued on October 11, 2013.