BJMP-6 personnel busted for gun running

By Jennifer P. Rendon 

From prison guard to prisoner.

Alleged gunrunning activities sent a member of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) 6 behind bars.

Jail Officer 2 Mark Joseph Barroca, who was assigned to the BJMP District Jail in Barangay Handumanan, Bacolod City, was arrested in a sting operation afternoon of Jan 4, 2023 in Dumangas, Iloilo.

Members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Aklan Field Unit, Dumangas Municipal Police Station, Iloilo Maritime Police Station, Naval Intelligence and Security Group-Central and Support Units collared the 36-year-old Barroca, a resident of Sitio Sumbingco, Barangay Damsite, Murcia, Negros Occidental, after allegedly selling four firearms to a poseur-buyer for P39,000.

Confiscated from the suspect’s possession were a caliber .45 pistol (serial number 671421) with two magazine assemblies; three caliber .38 Armscor revolvers bearing the same serial number 62811; a P100 marked bill; P38,900 boodle money; an identification card; and a white envelope.

Barroca agreed to meet his supposed buyer after he disembarked from a roll-on-roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessel at the Dumangas Port in Sitio Naluoyan, Brgy. Sapao, Dumangas.

Major Edgar Tonico, Jr., CIDG-Aklan chief, said that it took around two months of negotiations before the suspect agreed to meet with the poseur-buyer.

CIDG operatives initially had no idea that Barroca was a BJMP officer.

CIDG-Aklan personnel were then working on the arrest of another gunrunner from Aklan.

“However, after several transactions, he (Aklan gunrunner) wasn’t able to deliver the order. Thus, he referred us to his contact in Bacolod City,” Tonico said.

The confidential agent met Tonico at Barangay Handumanan, several meters away from the jail facility.

“We didn’t know that he was a jail guard then but we already had doubts. After a while, he confirmed to our asset that he is a BJMP personnel,” he said.

The gun trade was supposed to take place in late December 2022, but Barroca postponed it claiming that he was busy with the scheduled mass transport of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) to Metro Manila.

“He agreed to meet up with us in Dumangas provided that we will shoulder all his expenses,” Tonico said.

Before the actual operation, Tonico noted that they already made an intelligence report citing the suspect’s involvement in gunrunning activities.

“I have also called the BJMP-6 intelligence division and learned that our potential subject is one of their personnel. They told us to go ahead with our operation because they’re not tolerating such activity,” he said.

There were reports that the suspect had been on the BJMP-6’s radar for some misdemeanors.

A case for violation of Republic Act 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act) was already filed against the suspect Thursday morning.