5.56-caliber firearm used in Laguna mayor’s slay: PNP

QUEST FOR JUSTICE. The remains of Los Baños, Laguna mayor Caesar Perez arrive at the municipal hall on Tuesday (Dec. 8, 2020). The PRO 4-A (Calabarzon) said it is now looking at politics as among possible angles behind the killing. (PNA photo by Ivan Saldajeno)

MANILA – A caliber 5.56 mm weapon was used in the killing of Los Baños, Laguna Mayor Caesar Perez, a police official said Monday.

In a press conference in Camp Crame, Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory director, Brig. Gen. Steve Ludan, said this was based on the ballistics examination conducted on the metal fragments recovered from the crime scene.

“Similarly, ballistics examination conducted on the metallic fragments recovered from the cadaver also revealed that they were fired from a caliber 5.56 firearm,” Ludan said in Filipino.

Citing autopsy reports, Ludan said Perez succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained on the head, trunk, and right shoulder.

Ludan said they have already encoded the pieces of evidence into the PNP’s firearms identification system. However, they have yet to find any match in their records.

“So there is a possibility that the firearm is not registered or a loose firearm. We might have difficulties connecting these to whatever firearms we have on record or the bigger problem is we might not have any record, especially if these are loose firearms,” he said.

Perez, who was earlier included in the government’s narco-list, was laid to rest on Saturday, after he was gunned down by still unidentified gunmen inside the premises of the municipal hall on Dec. 3.

His family is offering a PHP1-million reward to those who could provide information that would result in the arrest of the perpetrators of the crime.

In a public address last week, President Rodrigo Duterte himself said sorry to the Perezes for what they thought was a mistaken inclusion of their patriarch in the list, which was a collection of intelligence reports including from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the military, and the police.