CA upholds DOJ raps against Armscor officers over guns used in Maguindanao Massacre
The Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the ruling of the Department of Justice (DOJ) that ordered the filing of criminal charges against four officers of a firearms manufacturing company for the illegal sale of ammunition that were traced to the killing of 58 persons, an incident in 2009
known as the Maguindanao Massacre.
Affirmed were the criminal charges for violation of Presidential Decree No. 1866 as amended by Republic Act No. 8294, the law on illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, filed against Victor Karunungan, Eduardo Santos, Lyn Demartin Justo and Melva Valdez Libao – all of Arms Corporation of the Philippines (Armscor).
Karunungan is Armscor’s vice president and chief financial officer, while Libao is the firm’s accounting supervisor, Justo is the bookkeeper and Santos is the sales representative.
After the massacre in 2009, police investigations and raids 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).
Then PNP Chief Jesus Versoza formed a team that conducted the accounting of the PNP equipment.
Records showed that several police operations yielded numerous ammunition in Maguindanao and the said ammunition were identified through their lot numbers, which appeared to be that of Armscor’s.
The same records showed that there were two illegal procurements which involved Armscor and the PNP on Aug. 21, 2008 and April 10, 2009.
Investigation showed 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.
Ardaniel coordinated with Santos for the purchase of 500,000 rounds of cartridge ball 5.56mm full metal jacket combat ammunition on Aug. 21, 2008. The same quantity of ammunition was also procured on April 10, 2009.
The records stated that the Firearms and Explosives Division issued a certification on Jan. 15, 2010 which attested that it had not issued a permit to purchase ammunition to PRO-ARMM.
On recommendation of the PNP, criminal charges were filed against the four officers of Armscor.
On May 13, 2011, the DOJ found probable cause to indict them for violation of P.D. 1866. With the resolution affirmed on Oct. 11, 2013, those charged elevated the case to the CA.
In dismissing the petition, the decision written by Associate Justice Eduardo Peralta Jr. stated that the there was no showing that the DOJ erred in finding probable cause to indict them for violation of the provisions of PD 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,” the CA said.
It pointed out 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.”