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[av_heading heading=’ ‘GIVE UP YOUR GUNS’ IPPO starts anticrime drive in 5th Dist. ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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Wednesday, October 25, 2017
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ILOILO – Those hoarding unlicensed guns in the 5th District are better off surrendering them to the police, according to the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO). Those who refuse risk being arrested and charged in court.
The IPPO’s Provincial Special Operations Group (PSOG) has started running after loose guns in the 5th District that the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) said was being bugged with, among others, criminal gangs and private armies.
Yesterday around 5 a.m., the PSOG raided the house of one Frank George Samson in Barangay Aspera, Sara, Iloilo for unlicensed guns. It did not find any and the subject of the raid was not around.
PSOG commander Chief Superintendent Charlie Sustento said they applied for a search warrant at the Regional Trial Court, Branch 66 after receiving information that Samson was keeping unlicensed guns.
As of this writing, Samson’s whereabouts were unknown.
Sustento also said intelligence information reaching PSOG linked Samson to criminal gangs.
“We are appealing to people in 5th District who own homemade or unlicensed guns. Surrender them to us,” said Sustento.
The 5th District is made up of the municipalities of Ajuy, Balasan, Barotac Viejo, Batad, Carles, Concepcion, Estancia, Lemery, San Dionisio, San Rafael, and Sara, all in northern Iloilo.
According to IPPO director Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, four criminal gangs were operating in the towns of Sara, Estancia, San Rafael, and Lemery.
He declined to identify the criminal groups but said these have politicians for protectors.
The Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act (Republic Act 10591) regulates gun ownership, possession, carrying, importation, and manufacture. It aims to stop the proliferation of illegal firearms and outlaws their illegal manufacture and sale.
Under the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Act, one must have a license from the Firearms and Explosives Office of the Philippine National Police to legally possess a gun.
But to qualify and acquire a license, the applicant to the must be: a) a Filipino citizen; b) at least 21 years old at the time of the filing of his/her written application to own and possess a firearm or firearms; and (c) has gainful work, occupation, or business or has filed an Income Tax Return (ITR) for the preceding year as proof of income, profession, business or occupation.
Among the other requirements are clearances from the court, neuro-psychiatric clearance, a certification that the applicant has passed a drug test, and a certification that the applicant has passed a gun safety and responsible gun ownership seminar administered by the Philippine National Police or a registered and authorized gun club.
At last week’s “peace summit in San Dionisio town, Chief Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, regional police director, assured the district’s residents, “Talagang gagawin namin ang lahat. Ibubuhos namin ang available resources para ma-address ang mga concerns.”
Cong. Raul Tupas organized the summit in Barangay Tuble, San Dionisio following Binag’s pronouncement last month that PRO-6 would be focusing its peace and order campaign in northern Iloilo.
“We mean business in addressing the identified peace and order issues,” said Binag.
Mayor Rene Cordero of Estancia, however, contested Tayaba’s claim that a criminal group was operating in his town.
“Daw waay man sang gang sa amon ah, waay ako may nabal-an. Katawhay sang amon nga banwa,” said Cordero.
In a recent interview, the mayor denied to Panay News he was maintaining a private army. But he confirmed having hired murder and drug suspect Arturo “Master Pedic” Balume Sr., 62, as security guard for the Estancia fishing port.
Balume was arrested on Oct. 12 in Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental./PN
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