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April - June 2012Volume 1 10Issue No. 2The Power ofIBIS“ALPHA GUN”DETECTIVEThethe one that started it all...FORENSIC BREAKTHROUGHby: PSUPT REYNALDO D DE GUZMANChief, Firearms Identification Division, PNP Crime LabThanks to the painstaking, meticulousforensic investigation conducted by the PNP CrimeLaboratory's Firearms Identification Division throughthe Integrated Ballistics Identification System or IBIS(a computer assisted ”Forensic Firearms ExaminersMachine” capable of capturing data from fired bulletsand cartridge cases of firearms) for solving cases ofserial killings in the country by linking all themissing dots into a sole gun, making it astrong headway toward a world classcrime laboratory.T h e C r i m e L a b f o r e n s i cinvestigators capability of utilizing the fullpotential of the one year old IBIS or also knownas Firearms Identification System (FIDS) is nodoubt a powerful tool for the police investigators ofgetting solid leads on firearms related cases. Forthis issue, The Detective is giving full credits to thePNP Crime Laboratory for a job well done particularlyto PSUPT REYNALDO D DE GUZMAN, Chief, FID forallowing us to share the PNP's forensic breakthroughin a capsule.Psupt de Guzman said that on April 21,2008, the Crime Lab reported to then Chief, PNPabout the successful forensic cross-matching ofevidence bullets and cartridgecasesrecovered from the scenes of 33 shooting incidentsparticularly in various areas in NCR, Region 3 andRegion 4A from the CY 2005 to 2008 involving83 victims, of which 38 were killed, 34 wounded, three(3) were raped and eight (8) others of unknowncondition.In all these cases, 10 firearms of assorted caliber,type and make were found to have been repeatedly oralternately used, but the most consistently used whichserves as the common denominator, connecting all the10 guns and these cases was a 9mm Glock pistol.In fact, two (2) of the said firearms particularly thecaliber .45 Charles Daly pistol with serial no. XXX and9mmBernadelli pistol with serial no. XXX were recoveredfrom the control and possession of two (2) arrestedrobbery suspects in San Fernando City, Pampanga onApril 5, 2008. The capture of the said guns and forensiccross-matching of the standard specimen of thesefirearms with evidence specimen has led the PNP toestablished linkages of these series of killings.However, despite these significant findings, noinformation whether cases have been filed the(2) arrested suspects.It can be recalled that sincethe IBIS, the PNP's state-of-the artcrime laboratory equipment a totalof 18,974 evidence bullets andcartridge cases including thestandard bullets and cartridgecases of firearms licensed thru theamnesty programs have so far been encodedby the Crime Lab into the system. Therebymaking the IBIS very capable of processing andcorrelating stored data in a short period of time. TheIBIS provides a timely result or information which isvery crucial in the conduct of any on-going investigation.The system exceeded all expectations, PSUPT deGuzman said. By September 2011, the Crime Evidencecontinued on page 11