POLICE yesterday seized eight firearms from the security agency of an agricultural firm that was allegedly involved in the shooting of presidential aspirant Leody de Guzman and lumad farmers Tuesday.

PNP-10 regional spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle Olaivar said a team of PNP Regional Civil Security Unit who inspected the Kiantig Development Corporation found five of their security guards were not licensed and not wearing proper uniforms.

Olaivar said the guards also failed to show any certificate of authority from the Commission on Elections exempting them from the gun ban for the 2022 election period, which began on January 9.

She said the police team confiscated two pistols, one revolver, and five shotguns from Addis Security and Control Risks Inc., with its main office, located in Lauan Street, Nova Tiera Village, Lanang, Davao City.

“The inspection was administrative in nature. The five guards were not arrested because the firearms were not confiscated outside their post, which could violate the Comelec gun ban. We confiscated the firearms because they could bare any documents,” Olaivar said.

Olaivar said the firearms were sent to the PNP Crime Laboratory in Camp Evangelista in Cagayan de Oro to check if they were recently fired.

She said they are looking for more firearms since a team from the PNP-10 Scene of the Crime Operatives found empty 5.56 caliber shells (presumably from an M16 rifle) from the crime scene in Sitio Kiantig, Barangay San Jose in Quezon town.

De Guzman said a group of 50 armed men believed to be security guards fired volley shots at them and 500 Manobo-Pulangiyon farmers who attempted to take over 900 hectares of land of Kiantig Development Corporation in Sitio Kiantig.

Five people were hurt including two of De Guzman’s aides in the shooting. De Guzman along with two senatorial hopefuls, Roy Cabonegro and David D’Angelo survived unscathed.

De Guzman’s companion Nanie Abela, one of those injured, said the guards did not fire shots to warn them.

“They aimed their shots at us,” Abela said,

De Guzman said the incident happened while Army and policemen were standing 100 meters away but did not respond to the shooting.

Olaivar said the police cannot file a criminal case against the suspects because no one from De Guzman’s party and the lumad farmers came forward to file complaints.

In an interview on OnePH on April 20, Police Brigadier General Benjamin Acorda, PNP-10 regional director urged the victims and witnesses to cooperate in the investigation and trust the police.

“I want the investigation of this case to be solid so that it won’t just be dismissed. We assure the witnesses and victims that the police would remain neutral,” Acorda said.

Acorda said Kiantig Development Corporation is managed by a certain Marco Lorenzo, not Quezon town Mayor Pablo Lorenzo III as earlier reported.

Mayor Lorenzo III, in his interview with Brigada News FM, admitted he used to work with the company but was relieved because of his work as the chief executive of Quezon town.

Lorenzo said he met with the Commission on Indigenous People, the lumad farmers, and the police on April 18, the day before the incident.

Bishop Noel Pedregosa of the Malaybalay Diocese condemned the incident and urge all stakeholders to engage in dialogue “for the sake of peace and of the integral and sustainable development of the lumad.”

“The lumad have the rights to their ancestral domains which for many years have been deprived of them,” Pedregosa said.