Senator Richard Gordon said Friday he sees the need to arm village officials in the areas with high crime rates or threatened with rebellion or insurrection to help them protect themselves and their community.
He said there was no need to arm every one of the close to 42,000 barangay chairmen and 293,636 kagawad in the country”•only those in the areas cited where the situation demanded it.
“Many barangay officials have already been killed. Give firearms to help them protect themselves and their community, but not every barangay official needs to be armed,” Gordon said.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III also said he agreed with the plan to arm village officials provided that those who would be given firearms were qualified and had passed a psychiatric test and other requirements.
“I’m a practical shooter, therefore I will obviously agree,” Sotto said.
“But they should be qualified, must pass psychiatric tests and other requirements.”
Police Chief Oscar Albayalde said the Philippine National Police was ready to take over primary law enforcement and peace-and-order initiatives from local governments if the local executives were found underperforming in their areas.
He made the comment after President Rodrigo Duterte warned mayors he would empower the police to take over if they failed performance audits by the Interior department.
Albayalde said the PNP was capable of performing the mission but would need support like mobile cars and fuel.
Duterte has expressed plans for barangay officials who want to actively take part in the fight against crime and illegal drugs to have either shotguns or .22-cal. handguns.
But Gordon, who heads the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, pointed to the need for proper vetting by the government and proper training for barangay officials to be given arms.
“The government should not give arms to those in the drug list or those who have criminal records,” Gordon said.
The government, Gordon said, should be able to strictly monitor the distribution and disposition of guns.
When asked if the government should provide the firearms, Gordon said the government could buy the guns and charge it to the funds of the barangay.
