Manila: A woman who entered the presidential palace premises last Friday with a loaded pistol had been charged with illegal firearms possession after police found out that the weapon she was carrying was licensed to her brother, a marine sergeant.
Flora Pineda had been charged with unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition (Republic Act 10591) by the Manila Police District, after authorities determined that the pistol she was carrying last Friday when she figured in an incident at the palace, was issued by the government to her brother Sergeant Rolando Nonato of the Philippine Marines.
Under the country’s law, possession of a firearm licensed to another person is punishable by imprisonment. Her brother could also be held liable for violating Section 30 of the Philippines’ Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition as well, police assigned with the General Assignments Section of the Western Police District said.
In the incident last Friday, Pineda, 36, entered the palace premises through one of the several gates at the Malacanang New Executive Building at Arias Gate on J.P. Laurel Street. Witnesses said the woman was openly carrying a pistol, a Chinese-made Norinco NP44 .45 calibre, and had demanded that she speak with President Benigno Aquino III.
Demand for Aquino resignation
She said she wants Aquino to step down from office because he had been causing too much poverty to ordinary Filipinos like her.
According to reports, Pineda, is a resident of Signal Village, Taguig City, an area where families of members of the military, like her brother, Rolando, are staying.
Authorities are also trying to determine Pineda’s state of mental health.
The palace, for its part, said the Presidential Security Group (PSG) is conducting its own investigation into the Friday incident given that an armed intruder was able to enter the compound of the palace. The incident was the first time when an individual carrying a loaded weapon was able to enter the palace ground.
“Of course, we take any incident like this seriously that is why the PSG immediately conducted their own investigation,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a radio interview Saturday with government station dzRB.
In the same breath, Valte assured that the President is safe and the Presidential Security Group is doing its job to protect the chief executive.
Valte confirmed that the suspect would be charged because a firearm was involved.
She said that the incident did not cause an immediate threat to the President, because Aquino at that time, was not inside the New Executive Building.
