CEBU CITY—The bodyguard of Mayor Vicente Loot of Daanbantayan town in northern Cebu was arrested for possessing two unlicensed firearms.
Jose. Dupay, 61 and a retired police inspector, was detained at the Daanbantayan police station pending filing of charges.
Senior Insp. Adrian Nalua, Daanbantayan police chief, said Dupay failed to present documents that would prove that his two .45 caliber pistols were licensed.
He said the arrest stemmed from a tip received by the police past midnight of Tuesday that a man was spotted bringing a firearm in Barangay Malingin, Daanbantayan town, about 127 km north of here.
A police team went to the village, saw Dupay, frisked him and found two firearms with six live ammunition.
Dupay identified himself as bodyguard of Loot but the police asked him to present documents to prove that the firearms were licensed.
When he failed to do so, the police accosted the suspect and detained him pending filing of charges.
The Inquirer tried to reach Loot but his cellular phone was out of coverage.
Loot was earlier accused by President Duterte as protector of illegal drugs operations – an allegation strongly denied by the mayor who was a retired police general.
Last May 30, Loot was wounded in the leg when a firearm accidentally went off while inside the vehicle of Dupay.
Loot was about to leave the wake of a supporter in Barangay Lanao, Daanbantayan, about 8:40 p.m., when he sat on the gun which accidentally went off.
Senior Supt. Manuel Abrugena, Cebu provincial police director, said they would check if one of the two firearms recovered from Dupay was the one that accidentally fired and hit Loot.
Abrugena said he already ordered Nalua to process the two firearms for a ballistics examination.