Village chief, bodyguards nabbed for guns in Batangas
A BARANGAY chairman and two of his bodyguards were arrested in a raid on his house in Barangay Sta. Clara, Santo Thomas, Batangas Tuesday dawn, May 29.
Barangay Sta. Clara chairman Jay Monterola and his bodyguards Crisaldo Castillo and Samuel Gordura were arrested for illegal possession of firearms.
Police Regional Office (PRO) Calabarzon director Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar said the Batangas police found the firearms and ammunition in the house beside Monterola's home.
The house is being used by Castillo and Gordura, who are accused of comprising Monterola's alleged private army.
Eleazar said the Batangas police raided Monterola's residence at around 5 a.m. Tuesday on the strength of a search warrant issued by the San Pablo City Regional Trial Court for alleged illegal possession of firearms.
Monterola initially refused entry to his residence and asked that other barangay officials be present to serve as witnesses during the search.
He also asked to bodily check police operatives for fear that they may have brought something and plant it as evidence against him.
Police failed to find any firearm in Monterola's residence.
But they found one carbine rifle calibre 30, two pieces magazine of carbine with 56 bullets, two calibre 45 pistols, six magazines of calibre 45 pistol and 43 calibre 45 live ammunitions in the house occupied by Castillo and Gordura.
Eleazar said the recovered firearms will undergo ballistics examination at the PNP crime laboratory to determine if they were used in other crimes.
In 2014, Monterola was charged for his alleged involvement in the killing of the father-in-law of his political opponent in the just concluded Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
He was also being linked to the killing of former Sta. Clara chairperson Leonor Angeles.
“Allegedly, subject Jay Monterola served for two terms as barangay councilor of Sta. Clara, Sto. Tomas Batangas. However, he was appointed as barangay chairman of said barangay after the death of barangay chairwoman Leonor Angeles in October 2016,” said Eleazar.
Angeles went on leave in 2016, following a dispute in the barangay council over a quarry. Monterola was then appointed as officer-in-charge and during his stint as OIC, the barangay council passed a resolution approving the quarry.
When Angeles returned from her leave, she questioned the resolution. Eleazar said Angeles was killed inside the barangay hall.
MANILA -- The Philippine Army (PA) is now equipped with platforms that can provide situational capability and secure communication to its units in the field.
The equipment being referred to is the "Blue Force Tracking System" that was developed by the Army Signal Regiment under its situational awareness capability program.
The latter is equipped with a global positioning system, allowing it to provide critical information to ground units, PA spokesperson Lt. Col. Louie Villanueva said in a statement Tuesday.
Aside from its "Blue Force Tracking System", the Army is also equipped with Mobile Command Centers (MCC) 1 and 2, tasked to provide communication support to all field units.
Villanueva said communication capability upgrades, such as MCC 1 and MCC 2, enable the commanders and planners to see the battlefield with real-time picture to come up with comprehensive and accurate plans and timely decisions, particularly during the conduct of focused military operations, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.
Both platforms are capable of communicating through voice and data since they are equipped with dipole and aerial antennas, telephone extender, and satellite dish antenna, with uninterruptible power supply.