FORMER Police Senior Superintendent Raul Petrasanta has been found guilty by the Sandiganbayan on 23 counts of graft for the illegal approval of a firearms license deal that included at least 19 high-powered AK-47s.
In a 202-page decision, the anti-graft court stated that Petrasanta, who was then the chief of the Philippine National Police’s Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO), and other police officials knowingly approved the deal with JTC Mineral Mining Corporation, despite the firm not meeting the necessary qualifications for the contract, which was sealed between 2011 and 2012.
“Accused Petrasanta and [Police Chief Superintendent Napoleon Romero] Estilles, in their respective capacities as Chiefs of the Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) and as the final approving authorities for the issuance of licenses to high-powered firearms, knowingly approved the subject applications notwithstanding their patent irregularities,” the Sandiganbayan said.
The court added that Petrasanta and Estilles “affixed their signatures to the questioned applications, thereby giving their imprimatur and consummating the unlawful approval in blatant disregard of the spurious and/or incomplete supporting documents, as well as the clear non-compliance with SOP No. 13 and the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act 5487 (The Private Security Agency Law).”
The Sandiganbayan also stated that Petrasanta, Estilles, and other police officials, including Allan Acong Parreño, Regino Sy Catiis, Eduardo Acierto, Tomas Rentoy III, Gil Meneses, Sol Zapatero Bargan, Nelson Bautista, Ricardo Zapata, Jr., and Randy De Sesto, unlawfully extended unwarranted benefits to JTC’s Isidro Lozada by facilitating the approval of the firearms license applications “despite the evident defects in the applications.”
