City Councilor Dave Tumulak
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu City Council passed a resolution urging public officials to surrender their unlicensed firearms to the police following the arrest of two barangay captains last week.
Councilor Dave Tumulak, the deputy mayor on police matters, authored the resolution which aimed to oblige the city government’s officials and employees to adhere to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) gun ban.
Read more: Lusaran Barangay Captain nabbed for illegal possession of firearms
Tumulak said that the arrest of the Barangay Captains Victor Quijano of Calamba and Agustin Partulan of Lusaran for possessing loose firearms brought the necessity to remind the officials to follow the mandate of the Comelec.
In the resolution approved by the Cebu City Council on Tuesday, February 26, the Council urged the officials and even private individuals to “inform immediately the police stations near their respective residences if they have unprocessed (firearms) license.”
Tumulak hopes that the both public officials and private individuals would follow the Comelec directives to avoid any incident similar to what happened to the arrested barangay chiefs.
“We should follow the mandate of the Comelec so that we can ensure a peaceful elections,” he said.
Tumulak refused to comment on the circumstance of Quijano and Partusans arrest but admitted that both chiefs were members of the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK).
Quijano and Partulan were arrested in their respective homes on February 22 in a police’s simultaneous drive against loose firearms./dbs