BARANGAY CAPTAINS DEFIANT

LINGAYEN—Recall and retrieval operations for all the 1,306 shotguns handed by the provincial government to barangay chairmen was not met when the January 25 deadline set by Police Provincial Director Percival Barba lapsed.

As of Friday last week, only 774 shotguns were in custody of various police stations. This means 532 shotguns of 40% are still unaccounted for.

Most of these were not turned over by the kapitans themselves but had to be retrieved by the police from the houses of the barangay leaders, according to Barba.

Barba said the police decided to collect the shotguns, as some of the kapitans were reluctant to turn over their shotguns for fear of being arrested and charged with a violation of the gun ban while in transit to the police station.

Of the 44 towns and three cities of Pangasinan (Dagupan, a chartered city, is not under the provincial government), only 20 have fully complied while three towns have not surrendered a single shotgun.

The towns that have complied fully were: Anda, Dasol, Mabini, Basista, Bautista, Burgos, Dasol, Sual, Urbiztondo, Calasiao, Sta. Barbara, Mapandan, Manaoag, San Jacinto, Laoac, Sison, Sto. Tomas, Rosales, Tayug, Urdaneta City, and Labrador.

The towns that have not complied even with even a single shotgun are the barangays of San Manuel with 16 shotguns, Natividad with 18 shotguns, and Alaminos City 16 (21 kapitans refused to receive the shotguns).

A nationwide gun ban took effect on January 10 in line with the elections in May.

Barba said the police are continuing with the retrieval of the shotguns despite the lapse of the deadline he set but he did not clarify what actions he would take against the defiant kapitans.

Police Regional Director Constante Azares Jr. has categorically said the barangay captains are not exempted from the gun ban and could be arrested if they carry firearms outside of their residence.

Azares, who was in Pangasinan again last week, witnessed the turnover of some shotguns in some police stations in western part of the province.

Barba reiterated that the recall of the shotguns is in keeping with the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by Liga ng mga Barangay president Amadeo Espino and Governor Amado Espino Jr., as chair of the peace and order committee of the provincial board. The two Espinos are brothers.

The MOA states that the shotguns should be turned over to the police for safekeeping during an election period.

The Liga, however, has filed a petition before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) asking for an exemption for the barangay kapitans purportedly so the latter can defend their barangays in case of an armed attack during the polls.

The Comelec has yet to declare any part of Pangasinan as an election “hotspot” although several towns have been put on the watchlist.

There is no Comelec decision yet on the petition and Barba has not acted on individual requests of barangay chairmen for exemptions.—LM

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