CEBU CITY – A policeman was accused of stealing several firearms that had been turned over to the police station for safekeeping while their owners were processing their license renewals.
Police Corporal Marlito Portugueza, assistant investigator of the Waterfront Police Station, was arrested by fellow policemen when he was asked to report for work at 3:45 a.m. yesterday.
“This is very disappointing. We have been strict in the internal cleansing and we have this kind of an incident in our backyard,” said Police Col. Engelbert Soriano, chief of the Cebu City Police Office.
Portugueza, who was detained at the CCPO detention facility, refused to comment on his arrest.
Soriano said that Portugueza, who joined the police service in 2013, will be facing robbery and administrative charges.
“It is very hard to become a policeman and yet he committed this kind of an offense which is rare and first kind of an incident here,” said Soriano.
Police Major Joemar Pomarejos, chief of the Waterfront police, and personnel of the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group-Visayas Field Office, started conducting an investigation when it was discovered in January that a firearm kept in the evidence room was missing.
It was later discovered that a total of 12 firearms were missing.
In the investigation, it was found out that there was a time when Portugueza asked the evidence custodian if he could check the firearms kept in the evidence room.
“All indications pointed to him as the one who stole the firearms. There were also witnesses who identified him as the suspect,” said Soriano.
Soriano said one of the witnesses is the station’s errand boy who revealed that he was once instructed by Portugeza to deliver a firearm to a supposed buyer.
“He also had a cohort who bragged with his friends during a drinking session that his boss in gun-running is assigned at the Waterfront Police Station,” said Soriano.
Six of the 12 missing firearms had already been recovered. (Calvin D. Cordova)