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A policeman assigned in Tabogon town was caught selling unlicensed firearms during an entrapment operation in Danao City.
PO2 Jose Reden Hortelano, 37, and a companion Sony Cartalla, 37, of barangay Alang-alang, Tabogon town were arrested last Saturday.
Hortelano, a resident of Danao City, was reportedly off duty, when he was arrested past 11 p.m. outside a convenience store along the barangay Taytay highway.
Agents from the Regional Intelligence Division and members of the 78th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army conducted the entrapment.
Hortelano is now detained at the RIU in Central Visayas office pending the filing of criminal and administrative charges.
Police said they confiscated an M16 A1 Armalit rifle; two KG9 automatic rifles; a .45 caliber pistol; two magazines for KG9 automatic rifle; one magazine for M16 A1 rifle with 23 live ammunition.
When asked to explain his arrest to his superior, Tabogon Police Chief Alexander Ancao on Sunday, Hortelano denied the allegations against him.
He said he was far from the area where the entrapment operation took place.
Senior Inspector Ancao said Hortelano still has to explain why he did not have a memorandum receipt for a .45 caliber pistol he was carrying at the time.
Authorities said the operation was the result of a month's surveillance by the the RIU police on Hortelano.
Ancao said he was surprised when Cebu Provincial Police Chief Jesus Gaquing told him of the arrest.
Ancao said he didn't know if Hortelano was engaged in gunrunning because he seldom saw him with a gun inside the police station.
