CEBU CITY – At least 40 .38 caliber revolvers stuffed in sacks were unearthed in Barangay Campo 4, Talisay City, Cebu last Tuesday.
The unregistered firearms were found buried near the suspected safe house of one Jerome Labitad, who is considered one of the most wanted persons in Talisay.
“Labitad is involved in gun-for-hire and illegal drug activities. There had been several attempts to arrest him but he is very elusive,” Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office-Central Visayas, said Wednesday.
Police had tried to serve a search warrant in the house twice but Labitad could not be found in both occasions, Sinas added.
Sinas said a group of children gathering firewood first found a sack filled with firearms on the highway in Sitio 5 around at 10 a.m.
After receiving the report about the discovery of the firearms, police rushed to the area. Police later dug three more sacks containing firearms.
Though rusty, the firearms are still functional, said Sinas.
Sinas explained that Labitad’s group is keeping revolvers since these kind of firearms are the ones that are easy to purchase. “It’s easier and faster to manufacture revolvers. It explains why most of the times during our police operations, the type of guns recovered from crime suspects are revolvers,” said Sinas.
The firearms have been sent to the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory for examination. (Calvin D. Cordova)
