Gov. Defensor: Suspension of permits to carry guns is improper

ILOILO CITY, Philippines  — The police order suspending permits to carry (PTC) firearms in eight of 11 towns in the northern part of Iloilo province, or in the 5th district is not right, according to Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor, Sr.

Defensor, in his weekly regular press conference, said he did not see the wisdom of the directive and that he told Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol Jr, director of the Police Regional Office-6, that he was saddened by such order.

Querol had suspended the PTC in the towns of Ajuy, Concepcion, Sara, Batad, Balasan, Estancia, Carles, and San Dionisio due to rising criminality or lawlessness in these towns. Exempted from the order were the towns of Barotac Viejo, Lemery and San Rafael.

The governor however assailed the basis of the order because there has been no evidence presented to show that lawlessness in these eight towns has increased, and that he even wondered why there were three exempted.

"If there has been a state of lawlessness (in the fifth district) that should have been reported in the media," Defensor said, adding that the PRO-6 decision was done even without the knowledge of Iloilo Provincial Police Office director, Sr. Supt. Gil Lebin.

Defensor, who met with Lebin before the press conference, ordered the latter to furnish him with the data relative to the crime statistics of the entire province for the last six months so that it could be compared to that of last year's.

"If this (suspension of PTC) will really be enforced, it will turn out funny if not sad ... it will affect not only politicians but the entire people. It is obvious that there is a hidden agenda to this," Defensor said without elaborating further.

Defensor asked Anilao town Mayor Teresa Debuque, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Iloilo, to take appropriate action on the matter even as he will also seek the help of the congressmen and the members of the Provincial Board to pose objection to the order. (FREEMAN)