Citom Board oks providing firearms to some enforcers

The City Traffic Operations Management Board yesterday approved unanimously a resolution arming some traffic personnel to protect them from getting into a similar situation last week when a jeepney driver attacked a Citom enforcer who apprehended him.

Rogelio "Jing-Jing" Osmeña, chairman of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, raised the proposal during the meeting when "other matters" were discussed.

Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem, council transportation committee chairman and a Citom board member, said that not all Citom personnel would be armed, and maybe only less than half of them.

Citom personnel would be consulted first on who among them would like to carry firearms, and those who do would undergo various processes such as psychological examination, gun-safety seminar and proficiency tests, said Jakosalem.

Jakosalem said the number of those who would be issued firearms would also depend on the budget that the city government might allocate, and that the preferred firearm to be issued would be a .38 caliber revolver due to its being handy and safe to users.

The price of firearm has escalated through the recent years, and what used to cost P13,000 each might be more expensive now, said the councilor.

Citom executive director Arnel Tansinco earlier said some traffic enforcers are already licensed firearm holders, and even admitted hearing reports that others are also carrying unlicensed weapons.

Citom would never intervene if those carrying unlicensed firearms would be arrested, Tansinco clarified, adding that those with licensed guns should not also display their guns in the open.

Superintendent Rey Lyndon Lawas, chief of the firearms and explosives division of the Police Regional Office, made it clear also that it is not illegal for traffic enforcers to carry licensed firearms while on duty, for as long as their licenses allow them to do so.

The call to arm traffic enforcers while on duty arose when jeepney driver Wenelito Econas allegedly stabbed and wounded with a knife Citom enforcer Danilo dela Peña.

Dela Peña apprehended Econas for stopping at a "No Stopping" area in front of the Cebu Institute of Technology along Natalio Bacalso Avenue. - Joeberth M. Ocao and Ramil V. Ayuman