Pinamungajan town officials surrender 18 guns with expired licenses to police

Eighteen firearms with expired licenses owned by the Pinamungajan local government and nine unlicensed firarms owned by some barangay officials were turned over to the police. CDN PHOTO/BENJIE B. TALISIC

“IT is not too late to surrender your firearms.”

Chief Insp. Alfredo Cuhay, Pinamungajan town police station chief, made this call to those who possess loose firearms in the town as part of the police campaign for a safer election.

The call was made amid the turnover on Tuesday of 27 loose firearms, 18 of which were owned by the local government of Pinamungajan, a town 64.8 km from Cebu City.

He said that the licenses of the 18 caliber .45 pistols owned by the town’s local government were not renewed.

The guns were surrendered to the police at the town’s police station.

The nine other firearms, which included caliber .45 pistols, .38 revolvers and a long firearm, were unlicensed firearms and were turned over by the town’s barangay officials.

Pinamungajan Mayor Glenn Baricuatro said that they turned over the firearms to show their support to the campaign of the Philippine National Police (PNP) against loose firearms for a peaceful election.

Baricuatro also assured that it would be a peaceful Sangguniang Kabataan and Barangay election on May 14 in their town since there has been no precedence of violence in the holding of the election there.

Baricuatro also said that they planned to donate the guns to the town’s police, a move that Cuhay welcomed.

For his part, Supt. Rene Kiamko, Cebu Provincial Intelligence Branch chief, who was present during the turnover of the guns, said that these would make the town safer with 27 less loose firearms which could not be possibly used for illegal activities especially during the election season.