THE National Mines and Allied Workers Union (Namawu) will file charges against the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the raid conducted at Post No. 2 of Maricalum Mining Corporation in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental on March 5.
Namawu collaborating counsel Jovim Entila said the group’s legal team from Manila arrived in Sipalay City Wednesday to conduct an ocular inspection at the site.
The charges were based on the fact that the search warrant used in the raid by the NBI agents was obtained in Quezon City and that the subject of the search warrant was a certain Noli Micabel and/or occupants of Warehouse 3-Port Area of the facility.
READ: Search at Maricalum hit; recovered firearms illegal
"The subject of the search warrant is only one person who does not correspond to any employee of Namawu or security guards of Namawu. Contained in the warrant are firearms, short firearms, and ammunition which they did not found. They (only) recovered licensed firearms that were in the possession of security guard(s) issued by the security agencies,” Entila explained.
He also said the 21 security guards brought to the NBI-Bacolod office were released in the afternoon of March 5 after the verification of the recovered firearms were licensed.
READ: Authorities seize cache of firearms, nab 21 blue guards
Namawu secures the property which they legally possessed after they won the labor case before the National Labor Relations Commission against their former employer, Entila said.
NBI-Bacolod earlier said the recovered firearms were unlicensed and have expired licenses, citing the report of the Philippine National Police PNP Firearms and Explosives Office.