Do not allow assets to carry guns

By Eldie S. Aguirre
Digos City Bureau Chief

DIGOS City — The mayor of this city has issued a stern warning to law enforcement agencies operating within his area of responsibility to refrain from allowing its assets to carry firearms.

“That is foolishness in the highest order. Why allow those people to carry guns? If they used it in criminal activities the agency handling the asset will now become responsible for (their) actions,” Mayor Joseph Peñas said.

The mayor said the order applies to the Philippine National Police, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency including the Army.

Peñas said regular agency personnel must carry on its legitimate operations without relying on their respective civilian assets to do it for them.

“If something (goes) wrong the government will be deemed accountable for the misdeeds of assets that should not be there in the first place. Do it yourselves, and you have my support whatever lawful actions you will do,” Peñas said during a brief interview inside his office.

Peñas said he is still waiting for any conclusive investigation reports from the police as to the series of shooting incidents within the city in the past two months.

“I could not draw any conclusions for that matter as of this point in time. But I can assure you we will not be ‘sleeping’ on this matter. As of now, Digos is generally peaceful,” he said.

Peñas admitted receiving reports in relation to the shooting incidents but he refused to divulged for security reasons. However, he said there are instances that the crime did not really emanates from the city. “They could be into some unfinished business that unfortunately happened in Digos City due to several factors.”