CAMP KANGLEON, Palo, (PNA) — The police had foiled what could be a potential eruption of violence in the region’s industrial capital with the arrest of four fully-armed men who are reportedly out to spoil the peaceful conduct of the barangay election Sunday evening, the Police Regional Office 8 (PRO8) announced Monday.
Police Chief Supt. Elmer R. Soria, PRO8 director, identified the suspects as Larry Lladoc, 56; Ulysses Ilajas, 36; Edrigar Rojas, 39 and Elizalde Roña, 45. They were arrested by elements of Isabel police station led by PS/Insp. Florando Relente and augmentation police personnel led by P/Supt. Erwin Portillo in the evening of October 27 in Isabel town in Leyte.
“Timely information relayed by chairmen of two villages in Isabel led to the apprehension of the suspects and aborted possible untoward incidents in the area,” Soria said.
The police official informed that at around 10:30 p.m. a telephone call from Brgy. Tolingon chairman Gerby Frias was received by Isabel police station on the sighting of armed men at the waiting shed of Sitio Bakong-bakong.
The station’s Reactionary Stand-by Support Force (RSSF) was dispatched to the area, resulting to the arrest of Lladoc and Ilajas, both employees of Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. (PHILPHOS), also in Isabel town.
Confiscated from Lladoc was one .45 caliber Colt pistol bearing serial number 748631 loaded with six ammunitions and from Ilajas was one unit .45 caliber with serial number 1452324 loaded with 14 ammunitions and two magazine assembly for .45 caliber.
RSSF scoured the area and also recovered from the grassy portion one homemade shotgun, locally known as “sumpak,” one shotgun cartridge and one .22 caliber Arms Aguila revolver with serial number 22743 with five ammunitions.
An hour later, same reaction team responded to an indiscriminate firing at the basketball court of Sitio Can-esko as reported by Brgy. Chairwoman Tabunok Lolita Mabino perpetrated by armed men on-board a KIA van with plate number TPO 911.
The lawmen arrested Rojas and Roña and confiscated several firearms that include two 5.56 caliber K2 rifle with serial numbers 097154 and 097182 with two magazine assemblies and 50 rounds of ammunitions; one 12-gauge shotgun Buddyguard model with three shotgun cartridges and one .40 caliber Taurus pistol with serial number SBW 84989 with two magazine assemblies and 23 rounds of ammunitions.
Isabel, a first class municipality in Leyte’s fourth district, is composed of 24 barangays and home to the Leyte Industrial Development Estate (LIDE) where some big companies are located like PHILPHOS, Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (PASAR), and Lepanto Mining Corp.
The arrest brought to 56 the number of gun ban violators in the region that so far had resulted in the confiscation of 31 firearms of assorted calibers and 33 bladed weapons.