CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Hall has several unused handguns that may be issued to policemen assigned in the city who do not have firearms, or whose government-issued firearms are defective.
The FREEMAN learned from General Service Office (GSO) property section personnel that there are .38 caliber and .357 Magnum revolvers that may be issued if the policemen will ask for it.
“Wala na may ganahan nga modawat ani nga mga armas kay ang gusto sa mga polis kalibre 45 man g’yud. Moingon man nga wala na’y lain ani?,” the GSO’s property section personnel said. (Nobody wants these guns. The policemen want 45 caliber firearms.)
Some of these firearms were commonly used by the police while they were still under the Integrated National Police (INP) but are still functional because they are original.
City Hall has several caliber .45 and nine (9) millimeter pistols, but these guns are usually issued to the city and barangay officials, including some of the department heads.
Some of the City Hall guns were not returned by some policemen who were reassigned outside Cebu City and the GSO officials also failed to take appropriate legal actions against them.
PO1 Glenn Besande, assigned with the SRP Police, revealed his experience when he fired a warning shot with his .38 caliber revolver supposedly to stop a fleeing suspect of a shooting incident. He discovered that the bullet got stuck in the gun’s muzzle.
Gun experts said Besande’s gun may not be defective, but the bullet probably got stuck on the gun’s muzzle because of the kind of ammunition that he used.
Many of the new policemen assigned not only in Cebu City, but also in other cities and municipalities, were compelled to buy locally-made guns because the government failed to issue them firearms for their protection. (FREEMAN)