Friday, January 11, 2008 No more hi-powered arms for guards By Carlo P. Mallo
THE Police Regional Office (PRO)-Southern Mindanao will no longer allow the use of high-powered firearms by security guards in high risked situations, especially where there is a strong presence of rebel groups.
In an interview last Thursday, Chief Superintendent Andres Caro II, PRO-Southern Mindanao director, said they are currently reviewing the arrangements between the security agencies deployed in high risk situations.
Caro issued a review after members of the New People's Army were able to cart away an M16 rifle after raiding a piggery farm last Friday in the municipality of Santo Tomas, Davao del Norte.
"The M16, based on our investigation, was not issued by the security agency of the guards but was a personal property of the farm," Caro said.
Numerous raids and attacks of the New People's Army on the banana plantations and on other agricultural farms have yielded high-powered firearms.
Caro said the prohibition of the use of high-powered firearms in high-risk areas has been in place since the infamous early morning Easter Day raid on the Davao Penal Farm and Colony last year.
The Army's 73rd Infantry Battalion is still conducting pursuit operations against the perpetrators of the raid. (CPM)
