EDITORIAL - Tanods should not be allowed to carry guns

There is a proposal to arm around 1,500 barangay tanods in Cebu City. South district Representative Tomas Osmeña said this idea will definitely solve the problem on the lack of policemen in the city.

Osmeña said he would ask Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas to make the city the pilot area in a program allowing tanods to carry firearms to help police in maintaining peace and order.

For their part, the police find no problem in the idea. Police Regional Office-7 director Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo said allowing tanods to carry firearms to help in police operations is possible.    

Although the proposal will need legislative action, Garbo said there is a need to thoroughly discuss it. He explained that the viability of the proposal stems from the fact that the law authorizes local officials such as mayors and barangay captains to carry firearms.

At first glance, there's really nothing wrong with the proposal if we understand its noble purpose, which is to compensate for the shortage of the city's police personnel. There's no question that deploying armed tanods as police backup can bolster the campaign against criminality.

But there's the rub. Arming barangay tanods can have negative consequences owing to the fact that they are not like real policemen trained to properly carry firearms. Past experiences are replete with incidents involving tanods who metamorphose into dangerous street bullies when armed.

Barangay tanods should not be allowed to carry firearms. In the first place, they are not like policemen who have undergone proper training for years to learn the importance of gun possession. Tanods are just being plucked from the list of men willing to help monitor peace in the barangay.

And just because their duty revolves around helping the police maintain peace and order in the community doesn't mean they are already qualified to carry firearms while on duty. Limitations are countless that authorities should think twice before deciding to arm barangay tanods.