Report: Mayoralty bet, men arrested at checkpoint in Quezon province

A former mayor running in this May's election and his men were arrested after yielding firearms and ammunition at a checkpoint in Quezon province Friday afternoon. Radio dzRH reported on Saturday that former Buenavista town Mayor Ramon Reyes was heading home from Lucena City when police manning a checkpoint flagged down his vehicle in Gumaca town at 1 p.m. Friday. Seized from Reyes was a cal-.40 pistol with ammunition. The license for the firearm was found expired, as it was dated 2005. The report said Reyes is the candidate of the Liberal Party for the mayoralty race in Buenavista town. Initial investigation showed that police manning a checkpoint flagged down a Toyota (NUV-975) bearing Reyes, his driver, and bodyguards. Arrested along with Reyes were bodyguards Alex Ricamara, Edgardo Tabiero and Felix Medes. Ricamara had an arrest warrant for murder, the report said. Reyes faces charges for violating the Commission on Elections gun ban that started last Jan. 10 and obstruction of justice; he may be disqualified from the mayoralty race. Also, in September 2009, dzRH reported Reyes was arrested with at least three others and charged for illegal possession of firearms. At the time, police reported finding several firearms, including four cal-.45 pistols, a shotgun, two cal-.38 revolvers, an M-16 rifle, a cal-.22 handgun, two cal-.380 handguns, and boxes of ammunition. Violators tally As of February 14, the number of reported violators of the Comelec gun ban soared to 820, police said. Radio dzXL cited data from Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina that the violators included 56 policemen and 30 soldiers. The figures also showed 32 violators were from the ranks of government officials and employees, and that 720 were civilians. Authorities have also seized 695 firearms, including 294 high-powered and 401 low-powered firearms; and 779 "airsoft" air guns. Likewise seized were 186 bladed weapons and 34 grenades. The gun ban is aimed at preventing or minimizing violence related to the coming May elections. — LBG, GMANews.TV