AMID the rampant killings of politicians, the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to allow them to carry firearms despite the martial law in Mindanao to ensure their personal security.
PCL chairman and Davao City councilor Danilo Dayanghirang said during the Ispeak Forum Tuesday, July 17, that the PCL members or councilors have talked to him and asked what they can do so they can be allowed to carry their firearms especially those who are in Mindanao since Martial Law is currently being imposed.
“As councilor’s league national chairman with 16,500 councilors nationwide, they are saying: councilor, chairman, can you bring this matter for us to be exempted. But again if you will be exempted, it must be verified accordingly by authorities,” Dayanghirang said.
During a command conference in Malacañang, Dayanghirang said that he had already raised it to Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, who reportedly promised to relay the request to Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año and the security cluster committee.
“In Visayas you can still carry firearms, in Luzon, kasi meron kamang permit to carry but in Mindanao you cannot. Even if you have permit to carry firearms, you cannot carry it because Mindanao is under Martial Law,” he said.
He added: “The fact that they passed the criteria of firearms, sana ma except sila. The councilors and other officials are asking for us to be exempted. There’s no response yet and maybe they are considering.”
Dayanghirang also said the perpetrators are criminals whether they have permit or not and they have their own firearms. But he said politicians, who are vulnerable to such attacks, would have no capability to defend themselves.