Fil-Am brothers get 3 years for smuggling guns to PH

NEW YORK CITY — Two Filipino American brothers were sentenced March 27 to three years in prison for illegally exporting military-grade weapons to the Philippines for more than four years. They pleaded guilty in June to violating an export law.

One of the brothers, Rex Maralit of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, 46, was an 11-year member of the New York City Police Department. His brother, Wilfredo Maralit of Garden Grove, California, 49, was a Customs and Border Protection officer for nine years.

Rex Maralit of New Jersey, Philippines-based Ariel Maralit and Wilfredo Maralit of California. NYMAG PHOTO

Judge Allyne R. Ross of Federal District Court in Brooklyn handed down the sentences, saying she wanted to “give the public confidence that the rule of law applies with equal force to law enforcement officials and non-law enforcement officials.”

According to a New York Times report, the two bought and sent to the Philippines a variety of weapons from January 2009 to September 2013, including assault rifles, AR-15s and semiautomatic weapons designed to penetrate body armor. They did not get the State Department license required for such exports.

Prosecutors said in a court filing that the two men tried unsuccessfully to persuade a third brother, Ariel Maralit, who lives in the Philippines, to come to the United States to face charges in hopes of getting shorter sentences. Ariel Maralit is considered a fugitive by US authorities.

Rex Maralit sought discounts based on his status as a police officer when buying weapons, even listing his Police Department shield number on a required federal form for making the purchases.

Wilfredo Maralit, who was assigned to Los Angeles International Airport, told a weapons distributor he was ordering supplies for the border protection agency when he bought ammunition magazines.