PNP urged: Restore permit to carry guns in Pangasinan

By Eva Visperas 

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Board members are asking the Philippine National Police to rescind its suspension of the permit to carry firearms outside residence (PTCFOR) in this province, saying the move was hastily implemented and not carefully studied.

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima issued the memorandum suspending PTCFOR in the province after President Aquino visited the wake of Urbiztondo town mayor Ernesto Balolong Jr., his party mate in the Liberal Party, who was gunned down last June 7.

Relatives of the slain mayor said the mastermind in the killing was an influential person in the province but police have not yet made pronouncements on who ordered the killing.   

In a resolution sponsored by sixth district board member Alfonso Bince Jr. and approved on Monday, the provincial board said the move was “an insult to all legitimate and law-abiding citizens of Pangasinan, particularly those granted with PTCFOR” and must be immediately recalled.

In the resolution, the board expressed apprehension that with the PTCFOR suspension, “more loose firearms will proliferate in Pangasinan and embolden lawless elements to commit more crimes.”

Bince noted that the PTCFOR suspension had no period of effectivity. “If you limit it only in Pangasinan, is there a sufficient basis for coming out with that memorandum?” he asked.

Bince also said the President’s visit to Balolong’s wake apparently prompted the PNP move, even as authorities did not do the same when eight other mayors were killed in the recent past.

Senior Superintendent Sterling Raymund Blanco, acting provincial police director, cited the gains of their “focused” operations from June 16 to 23, but refused to comment of Bince’s statements.