Brig. Gen. Anthony Alcañeses, Bicol police regional director (Photo from PNP-Bicol's Facebook page)
LEGAZPI CITY – The police chief in the Bicol region has ordered an investigation into the arms and ammunition cache found by a civilian in an abandoned house in Bulan town on Saturday.
Policemen who recovered the cache found out that the firearms and boxes of ammunition were government-issued based on inspection and photo documentation.
“We will be conducting an investigation in order to determine its source,” said Brig. Gen. Anthony Alcañeses, in a message to the Philippine News Agency on Monday.
He said based on the serial numbers of the firearms and control numbers of the ammunition, police probers could trace whether the hoard came from the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Alcañeses said he is not discounting the possibility that the arms cache belonged to a group of New People's Army (NPA) rebels operating in Sorsogon province.
He noted “the likelihood that the rebels may have acquired it during raids and ambuscades”.
Alcañeses said police recovered 10 M16 rifles, 64 boxes each containing 40 pieces of ammunition used for AK-47 rifles, and 21 boxes of M16 ammunition hidden at an abandoned house in Sitio Angas, Barangay Otavi of the said town at around 10 a.m. (PNA)
