Cops nab man for gun possession while queuing for SAP fund
Local News • 20:30 PM Thu May 14, 2020
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
The unlicensed gun and its ammunition seized from a farmer in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao while lining up to received Social Amelioration Program (SAP) financial assistance from the government. (PNP photo)
COTABATO CITY – A 45-year-old man hoping to avail of financial subsidy from the government during this pandemic and was about to receive his share is now in jail after he was nabbed by police for gun possession Thursday.
Brig. Gen. Manuel Abu, regional director of Police Regional Office in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-BARMM), the man was arrested while queuing for the distribution of Social Amelioration Program (SAP) in Sandakan Elementary School in Barangay Sandakan, Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao province.
Major Julhamin Asdani, Sultan Kudarat municipal police chief, and his men arrested Gomi Sagaran Matalam, farmer and a resident of Sitio Diyati, Barangay Raguisi, Sultan Kudarat town.
He was nabbed for illegal possessions of firearms (Republic Act 10591) also known as the “Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.”
Abu said Matalam caught the attention of the police securing the SAP distribution center when he was seen roaming around with a cal. 45 pistol tucked in his waist but visible by naked eye.
When police accosted him, Matalam could not present any document to legalize his possession of a firearm.
Seized from him was a cal. 45 pistol with ammunition.
Colonel Arnold Santiago, Maguindanao police director, commended the immediate action by Sultan Kudarat police.