Turn over guns, village chiefs told

The city government is calling on all outgoing barangay captains to turn over any government-owned property in their care as the city prepares for a smooth transition between incoming and outgoing village officials.

This after the barangay captain of San Simon village turned over a 9mm pistol to Lumbia Police Station last June 26. This is on top of the seven firearms already turned over by barangay captains last 2013.

Village chiefs of barangay Pigsag-an, Mambuaya, Tagpangi, Tumpagon, Tignapoloan, and Dansolihon were issued a 9mm pistol with at least one magazine each while the barangay captain of barangay Bayanga turned over a .45 caliber pistol with 2 magazines.

City Administrator Teddy Sabuga-a said they are still investigating how these seven government-issued firearms got into the hands of barangay captains.

Sabuga-a in a press

conference yesterday said the firearms were legally purchased by the government with licenses about to expire.

He said it is still unclear if these were issued at the time of former mayor Vicente ‘Dongkoy’ Emano.

Sabuga-a said no village chief were not issued firearms by incumbent Mayor Oscar Moreno.

“Dili man gyud unta pwede armasan ang mga kapitan ug armas (Village chiefs can not be issued firearms supposedly so we will find out who exactly issued these to them. We only learned about this in our inventory. We have yet to identify exactly how many were issued,” he said.

Sabuga-a said the government may lose track of the firearms, if not properly accounted for.

For barangay captains planning to surrender their firearms, Sabuga-a said they are advised to coordinate with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) or surrender it to the nearest police station.

In a separate press conference on Wednesday, City Mayor Oscar Moreno said he is against arming barangay officials.

However, if it gets to that point, he said he will make sure that every barangay officials are fit to own a gun.