WHILE the provincial police command endorsed the distribution of shotguns to the barangay chairmen in the province, Dagupan City’s police chief would have it the other way.

P/Supt. Mariano Luis Verzosa, Dagupan chief of police, maintained that if the city government would have funds for firearms, he would rather that new guns purchased be issued to the police station instead of barangay chairmen (kapitans) as the local police force would have more use for them.

Versoza pointed out that only 60 per cent of the entire police force of Dagupan has firearms because there are not enough to issue one for every police man.

Speaking before the city council, Verzosa, who stressed that he did not mean to offend the provincial government by his request, said of the 110 men and 10 officers who comprise the Dagupan police, only 70 have been issued their respective firearms.

The sadder part, said Verzosa, is that of the 70 policemen who were issued firearms, some even carry outmoded and unserviceable pistols that no longer fire.

The provincial government has just completed a program giving each of the barangay chairmen in the province a shotgun each. However, Dagupan, being a chartered city and considered a separate political jurisdiction, its barangay chairmen did not receive any.

Verzosa told the city council that if the local government has money to spare for firearms, this should be allotted to the local police who are primarily in charge of maintaining peace and order.

Responding to questions from Councilor Danilo Torio, Verzosa said he is against the arming of barangay chairmen, or other civilians, as he is an advocate of a gun-less society.

“While arming policemen is one of my recommendations, I would like to stress here in Dagupan that there should be greater emphasis for the creation of a gun-less society,” he said.

Versoza has in fact coordinated with other law enforcement agencies based in Dagupan to restrain their men from carrying their firearms when not on official duty or to refrain from displaying their firearms in public.

“This will remove fear in the hearts and minds of the people as the police does it duty,” Verzosa said.

“First things first. It is the policemen who must be armed first since they are the ones mandated to enforce the law, not the barangay captains,” Verzosa said.—LM

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