A VILLAGE chief and two barangay watchmen were charged for illegal possession of firearms at the Negros Occidental Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Bacolod City Tuesday, September 13.
Senior Inspector Ariel Artillero, chief of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Negros Occidental, said Culipapa village chief Oscar Daclan and barangay watchmen Roel Lagarde and Gimo Julie of Hinoba-an town face complaints for violation of Section 28 of Republic Act (RA) 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.
Personnel of CIDG-Negros Occidental served a search warrant issued by Bago City Regional Trial Court Judge Frances Guanzon to Daclan that led to the recovery of three improvised firearms, including a .38 caliber, a .357 caliber, and a .45 caliber, during the raid on September 12.
Hinoba-an Mayor Ernesto Estrao had earlier said that politics was behind the raid since the witness was identified as a former watchmen dismissed by Daclan for stealing a bag of cement from a school.
Artillero said they have basis when they conducted the operation because Daclan has already been placed under surveillance.
The operation was purely work on our part, he added.
Artillero said he does not know how Estrao could claim that the operation was politically-motivated.
“I don’t need to know somebody in politics to conduct an operation," Artillero said, adding that he does not know politicians in Bacolod City and in Negros Occidental.
Estrao had also said that Daclan has been very active in the anti-drug campaign in his barangay, and has arrested drug pushers and users and turned them over to the police.
