Several retired high-ranking police officers implicated in the “missing” AK-47 rifles in Mindanao in 2013 on Friday said they would file a motion for reconsideration of the Sandiganbayan’s verdict, insisting they are innocent of the charges leveled against them.
“We will exhaust all legal remedies available to us just to prove our innocence in this case. The court may have overlooked its appreciation of the documentary and testimonial evidence that were presented during the trial,” the respondents said in a statement, referring to retired generals Napoleon Estilles and Meneses.
The retired Philippine National Police (PNP) officers explained that they had no role in the buying and selling of the firearms, stressing that no government funds or property were involved in the case. They also noted that prosecution witnesses testified they were unable to establish that the concerned officers gained financially from the private transactions between the buyer and seller of the firearms.
“As to the real intention of where the firearms would go, that knowledge and discretion were only known between the seller, Twin Pines/A-Zone, and the buyer, Mr. Isidro Lozada. The prosecution questionably failed to charge the seller, namely Twin Pines/A-Zone,” they said.